Reflection – Mind Mapping

Challenge

Right now, I am a postgraduate student of the program ‘Governance of Science, Technology and  Innovation’ in Moscow, Russia. Earlier I worked as business consultant in my home country  Eritrea. Before three years, while working in consulting firm in Asmara, an customer (Eritrean  returnee from abroad) came to our office for consultancy. His plan was to open new business that  engages in provision of slaughter services of sheep and goat for households. The role of our team  was to find out whether there was an actual need for such services and willingness of residents to  shift for such service. Traditionally, most of the residents of the city have the habit of eating  meat of sheep or goat on every religious holidays and slaughter by themselves at home. Rarely,  others buy cattle and share among themselves and very few with less income go for buying one  or two kilograms of meat from grocery. Meat consumption goes much beyond its nutritious  value, and is considered a good tradition where family members who have been apart for  different reasons come together and celebrate their holidays together. The celebration begins  from slaughter of the sheep or goat till lunch accompanied by traditional coffee ceremony.   families used to do the slaughter by themselves or hire people who engage in such activities and  pay them. To carry out the slaughter process at home, one needs much water.

Selection

The most appropriate tool that we found helpful in finding out the opportunity of new business  was ‘Mind Mapping’. This tool is very important in collecting data while answering the first step  of idea generation ‘What is’. As professor Marian Moore explained in her video “Mind mapping  is one of the most powerful tools in the design thinker’s toolbox. It is used to look for patterns  and insights that lead to more creative solutions to your design challenge. It provides a Segway  from ‘what is’ to ‘what if’”.

Application

Using the ‘Mind mapping’ tool is important in collecting data from the ground that are helpful to  answer first question of the idea generation process ‘what is’. To understand the real situation in  depth as well as the mindset of the society, our team (comprises eight people with different  profession) decided to arrange group discussion with residents (40 representative) followed by  ethnographic interview. Our selection for that method was to find out quickly and economically  the real situation on ground and the unarticulated problems of residents as it helps the team to  interact with them in their real-life environment.

Since our objective had only two themes, that is, to know their readiness to give up their  traditional slaughter at home and shift to the new slaughter services or not, they had no difficulty  in expressing their opinion. In our discussion, first we put ‘New Business’ at the center as  beginning point. Next, we figured out the opportunities and constraints available in opening the  business. The main opportunities were found to be the availability of resources (capital, human,

technical, etc) and absence of other businesses in similar activity. On the other hand, the barriers  that could hinder the business were the traditional attachment of residents and temporal  consumption pattern. To check out our hypothesis, the ethnographic survey was very helpful. We  selected one neighborhood, called ‘Enda Korya’, with relatively high income and adequate  services except an occasional water shortage. The interview was carried out to know the  traditional attachment and the effect of water shortage in embracing the slaughter service,  thereby to verify our assumption.

Insight

Mind mapping, as a design thinking tool is helpful to capture patterns and insights from the real  situation. The tool helped us primarily to find out the correctness of our assumption. It proved  that our assumption on traditional attachment of the society was right. Even the water shortage  was a real concern for them. However, to our surprise, after the ethnography survey and group  discussion, it was found that residents valued their time much more than to their traditional  attachment. Therefore, the tool was really helpful leading to an important insight that we never  had considered. Though residents had the problem, they couldn’t articulate it clearly until we  held the discussion. The mind mapping shows that the patterns and insights captured are crucial  steps. As long as the primarily objective of design thinking is to solve customers’ problem not to  show off one’s brilliance, customer empathy is key to look at a problem from different  perspective. That’s why, their responses indicated how desperately they were looking for better  alternative and they had a different valuation of time than our hypothesis. The tool helped us not  only to open one slaughter house in one neighborhood, but also to open other branches in the  city.

Approach

Since our consulting team was composed of multidisciplinary staff, we were able to look onto  the business from all perspectives. Everyone’s idea was highly valued and using mind mapping it  was clearly stated and gave fruitful results. Since dealing with such issue of opening a new  business requires huge initial investment, a thoroughly design thinking explanation could be  done through mind mapping. Engaging customers at early stage through ethnographic survey is  helpful to discover wrong assumptions and access primarily data from consumers (final users)  themselves. Next time, in doing similar job I would like to employ visualization design tool.   Because this tool develops your imaginative ability and presents your next move vividly  especially to stakeholders who find it difficult to understand technical terms. Other tools such as  learning launch are not appropriate for such cases. This is due to the high initial investment to  prototype or make a small experimental test. Once, capital investment is made, failure of the  business could be excruciating disaster.


Reflection – Mind Mapping Challenge Right now , I am a postgraduate student of the program ‘ Governance of Science , Technology and Innovation ’ in Moscow , Russia . Earlier I worked as business consultant in my home country Eritrea . Before three years , while working in consulting firm in Asmara , an customer ( Eritrean returnee from abroad ) came to our office for consultancy . His plan was to open new business that engages in provision of slaughter services of sheep and goat for households . The role of our team was to find out whether there was an actual need for such services and willingness of residents to shift for such service . Traditionally , most of the residents of the city have the habit of eating meat of sheep or goat on every religious holidays and slaughter by themselves at home . Rarely , others buy cattle and share among themselves and very few with less income go for buying one or two kilograms of meat from grocery . Meat consumption goes much beyond its nutritious value , and is considered a good tradition where family members who have been apart for different reasons come together and celebrate their holidays together . The celebration begins from slaughter of the sheep or goat till lunch accompanied by traditional coffee ceremony . families used to do the slaughter by themselves or hire people who engage in such activities and pay them . To carry out the slaughter process at home , one needs much water . Selection The most appropriate tool that we found helpful in finding out the opportunity of new business was ‘ Mind Mapping ’ . This tool is very important in collecting data while answering the first step of idea generation ‘ What is ’ . As professor Marian Moore explained in her video “ Mind mapping is one of the most powerful tools in the design thinker ’s toolbox . It is used to look for patterns and insights that lead to more creative solutions to your design challenge . It provides a Segway from ‘ what is ’ to ‘ what if ’ ” . Application Using the ‘ Mind mapping ’ tool is important in collecting data from the ground that are helpful to answer first question of the idea generation process ‘ what is ’ . To understand the real situation in depth as well as the mindset of the society , our team ( comprises eight people with different profession ) decided to arrange group discussion with residents ( 40 representative ) followed by ethnographic interview . Our selection for that method was to find out quickly and economically the real situation on ground and the unarticulated problems of residents as it helps the team to interact with them in their real - life environment . Since our objective had only two themes , that is , to know their readiness to give up their traditional slaughter at home and shift to the new slaughter services or not , they had no difficulty in expressing their opinion . In our discussion , first we put ‘ New Business ’ at the center as beginning point . Next , we figured out the opportunities and constraints available in opening the business . The main opportunities were found to be the availability of resources ( capital , human , technical , etc ) and absence of other businesses in similar activity . On the other hand , the barriers that could hinder the business were the traditional attachment of residents and temporal consumption pattern . To check out our hypothesis , the ethnographic survey was very helpful . We selected one neighborhood , called ‘ Enda Korya ’ , with relatively high income and adequate services except an occasional water shortage . The interview was carried out to know the traditional attachment and the effect of water shortage in embracing the slaughter service , thereby to verify our assumption . Insight Mind mapping , as a design thinking tool is helpful to capture patterns and insights from the real situation . The tool helped us primarily to find out the correctness of our assumption . It proved that our assumption on traditional attachment of the society was right . Even the water shortage was a real concern for them . However , to our surprise , after the ethnography survey and group discussion , it was found that residents valued their time much more than to their traditional attachment . Therefore , the tool was really helpful leading to an important insight that we never had considered . Though residents had the problem , they could n’t articulate it clearly until we held the discussion . The mind mapping shows that the patterns and insights captured are crucial steps . As long as the primarily objective of design thinking is to solve customers ’ problem not to show off one ’s brilliance , customer empathy is key to look at a problem from different perspective . That ’s why , their responses indicated how desperately they were looking for better alternative and they had a different valuation of time than our hypothesis . The tool helped us not only to open one slaughter house in one neighborhood , but also to open other branches in the city . Approach Since our consulting team was composed of multidisciplinary staff , we were able to look onto the business from all perspectives . Everyone ’s idea was highly valued and using mind mapping it was clearly stated and gave fruitful results . Since dealing with such issue of opening a new business requires huge initial investment , a thoroughly design thinking explanation could be done through mind mapping . Engaging customers at early stage through ethnographic survey is helpful to discover wrong assumptions and access primarily data from consumers ( final users ) themselves . Next time , in doing similar job I would like to employ visualization design tool . Because this tool develops your imaginative ability and presents your next move vividly especially to stakeholders who find it difficult to understand technical terms . Other tools such as learning launch are not appropriate for such cases . This is due to the high initial investment to prototype or make a small experimental test . Once , capital investment is made , failure of the business could be excruciating disaster .