Reflection – Visualization 

 Challenge & Selection     As an external consultant , my task was to advise a product team on the development of a new   online education offering . This specifically involved taking a strictly user - centered approach ,   understanding how their views and requirements shape the delivery of the service and , going   forward , ultimately identifying value propositions .     During the exploration of the current reality ( the What is ) through ethnographic research , the   number and/or inhomogeneity of 

 -   actors ( teacher , learner , buyer had been identified to start with ) , 

 -   tasks ( knowledge transfer , staff training , content creation , production of physical   education material , etc . ) , 

 -   stakeholders across different locations and time zones , 

 increased the complexity of the project and affected sharing , collaboration and decision - making .     I chose visualization as a central lever to take ownership of this complexity , bring every team   member on the same page and lay the groundwork for the phases to follow ( and , not least , to   apply established best practice ) .     Application     A crucial step to set our future direction was exploring what the product is and where it might   lead , i.e. making the leap from What is to What if . In combination with early visualizations –   examples included basic scribbles and sketches , user and task models , or system and customer   journey maps – a “ no constraints ” approach was particularly effective whenever ideating .     We then took our condensed learnings and concepts to inform later phases , What wows and What   works , e.g. by translating them into visual mockup - ups or interactive prototypes to be evaluated .     Throughout the process , I was paying particular attention towards 

 -   creating a broad variety of formats and fidelities which complement another and enable   taking new perspectives . 

 -   keeping “ the user ” always present , to constantly remind us who we were designing for   ( e.g. in form of personas ) . 

 -   surrounding ourselves with rich contextual imaginary showing both the status quo ( e.g.   through photographs or videos ) as well as our envisioned future ( storyboards , mood boards ) . 

 In order to accommodate for remote team members , I introduced appropriate tools such as a   digital whiteboard that allowed them to collaborate ( view , edit , etc . ) in real - time or leave   annotations for later consideration .   Whenever possible though , in - person creative sessions were most effective , e.g. by “ playfully ”   arranging our visual building blocks ( printed visuals , Post - its , etc . ) on a physical whiteboard .     Insight     A broad selection of relationship maps , e.g. between all actors and the product , along a customer   journey or as part of a wider ecosystem , revealed hidden opportunities across all stages . The 

 exercise proved to be particularly valuable when not only examining our knowns ( nodes ) , but   determining how the “ missing links ” ( connections ) in between could contribute towards the   successful delivery of the service , e.g. through : 

 -   additional actors or segments and what they can “ do ” for the service ( e.g. advise ,   recommend , promote ) 

 -   supporting services or things to provide better experiences ( e.g. through personalized   learning materials , progress reports ) 

 -   design requirements or human factors that may encourage utilization ( e.g. motivational   drivers , behavioral patterns ) 

 -   external factors ( e.g. third - party influencers , advertising & media , etc . ) 

 Being able to “ conceive ” data aided our decision making by putting a weight – or business value –   on equally appearing alternatives with a sufficient level of confidence . Interactive prototypes took   this positive aspect of visualization further , by enabling the team to experience how a solution   would actually feel .     Approach     Visual thinking ( out of the box ) allowed us to take an in - depth , holistic approach to – literally –   understand the big picture .   In order to prevent staying in “ envisioned realities ” for too long , it is crucial to test concepts in   the real world rather sooner than later , e.g. in a Learning Launch ( as discussed in the course ) or in   less formal ( ad - hoc ) customer feedback sessions .     Going forward , I will be trying to transport the special feeling of in - person group dynamics more   authentically through relevant technology , as they spark the highest creativity and inventorial   spirit . Being a central part of Design Thinking , collaboration should not be limited by a team   member ’s physical location in an era where distributed workplaces are steadily increasing . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: 
PHONE_NUM: 
STREET_ADDRESS: 
URL_PERSONAL: 
USERNAME: 

### Task: You are a PII (Personal Identity Information) Detection. Given a essays written by students, you have to identify ONLY the following:
NAME_STUDENT - The full or partial name of a student that is not necessarily the author of the essay. This excludes instructors, authors, and other person names.
EMAIL - A student’s email address.
USERNAME - A student's username on any platform.
ID_NUM - A number or sequence of characters that could be used to identify a student, such as a student ID or a social security number.
PHONE_NUM - A phone number associated with a student.
URL_PERSONAL - A URL that might be used to identify a student.
STREET_ADDRESS - A full or partial street address that is associated with the student, such as their home address.
### Input: Reflection – Visualization 

 Challenge & Selection     As an external consultant , my task was to advise a product team on the development of a new   online education offering . This specifically involved taking a strictly user - centered approach ,   understanding how their views and requirements shape the delivery of the service and , going   forward , ultimately identifying value propositions .     During the exploration of the current reality ( the What is ) through ethnographic research , the   number and/or inhomogeneity of 

 -   actors ( teacher , learner , buyer had been identified to start with ) , 

 -   tasks ( knowledge transfer , staff training , content creation , production of physical   education material , etc . ) , 

 -   stakeholders across different locations and time zones , 

 increased the complexity of the project and affected sharing , collaboration and decision - making .     I chose visualization as a central lever to take ownership of this complexity , bring every team   member on the same page and lay the groundwork for the phases to follow ( and , not least , to   apply established best practice ) .     Application     A crucial step to set our future direction was exploring what the product is and where it might   lead , i.e. making the leap from What is to What if . In combination with early visualizations –   examples included basic scribbles and sketches , user and task models , or system and customer   journey maps – a “ no constraints ” approach was particularly effective whenever ideating .     We then took our condensed learnings and concepts to inform later phases , What wows and What   works , e.g. by translating them into visual mockup - ups or interactive prototypes to be evaluated .     Throughout the process , I was paying particular attention towards 

 -   creating a broad variety of formats and fidelities which complement another and enable   taking new perspectives . 

 -   keeping “ the user ” always present , to constantly remind us who we were designing for   ( e.g. in form of personas ) . 

 -   surrounding ourselves with rich contextual imaginary showing both the status quo ( e.g.   through photographs or videos ) as well as our envisioned future ( storyboards , mood boards ) . 

 In order to accommodate for remote team members , I introduced appropriate tools such as a   digital whiteboard that allowed them to collaborate ( view , edit , etc . ) in real - time or leave   annotations for later consideration .   Whenever possible though , in - person creative sessions were most effective , e.g. by “ playfully ”   arranging our visual building blocks ( printed visuals , Post - its , etc . ) on a physical whiteboard .     Insight     A broad selection of relationship maps , e.g. between all actors and the product , along a customer   journey or as part of a wider ecosystem , revealed hidden opportunities across all stages . The 

 exercise proved to be particularly valuable when not only examining our knowns ( nodes ) , but   determining how the “ missing links ” ( connections ) in between could contribute towards the   successful delivery of the service , e.g. through : 

 -   additional actors or segments and what they can “ do ” for the service ( e.g. advise ,   recommend , promote ) 

 -   supporting services or things to provide better experiences ( e.g. through personalized   learning materials , progress reports ) 

 -   design requirements or human factors that may encourage utilization ( e.g. motivational   drivers , behavioral patterns ) 

 -   external factors ( e.g. third - party influencers , advertising & media , etc . ) 

 Being able to “ conceive ” data aided our decision making by putting a weight – or business value –   on equally appearing alternatives with a sufficient level of confidence . Interactive prototypes took   this positive aspect of visualization further , by enabling the team to experience how a solution   would actually feel .     Approach     Visual thinking ( out of the box ) allowed us to take an in - depth , holistic approach to – literally –   understand the big picture .   In order to prevent staying in “ envisioned realities ” for too long , it is crucial to test concepts in   the real world rather sooner than later , e.g. in a Learning Launch ( as discussed in the course ) or in   less formal ( ad - hoc ) customer feedback sessions .     Going forward , I will be trying to transport the special feeling of in - person group dynamics more   authentically through relevant technology , as they spark the highest creativity and inventorial   spirit . Being a central part of Design Thinking , collaboration should not be limited by a team   member ’s physical location in an era where distributed workplaces are steadily increasing .
### Output: 