Reflection – Design Tool : Mind Mapping 

 Challenge 

 I work for the Continuous Improvement ( CI ) department of a Logistics company . Our department is   responsible for process improvement and innovation , strongly rooted in IT related changes . 

 Our company has a Brokerage division that sells off freight to other trucking companies , we call these   “ Carriers ” . Carriers come in all shapes and sizes , with varying needs and resources . 

 The CI and Brokerage division continued to struggle to understand how we could improve our   service / value offering , and how Carriers wanted to interact with us . We would dream up of new   concepts , services , and processes , and sometimes move these unvalidated ideas through to production   and roll - out , typically with much effort and failure . 

 We realized that we were sometimes investing in the wrong ideas and did not know enough about our   stakeholder . We did not understand what they valued and how they wanted us to interact with them .   We also realized that this group of Carriers has a diverse spectrum of needs and value different things . 

 Selection 

 After some lessons learned on failed projects , we decided to apply the Mind Mapping tool . We needed   to quickly collect large amounts of data from our diverse Carrier group and organize it in a way that we   could then use for decision making . The Mind Mapping tool was a perfect framework to help us with this   challenge . It would help us draw out the differences of our Carrier base so that we could then tailor our   approach and select the right projects to solve the right problems for the right group . 

 Application 

 We set out with a team of five , composed of members of the CI and Brokerage team . The CI team first   started by analyzing all the data they had on the existing Carrier base , slicing , and dicing the data a few   different ways , by volume , region , commodity , service type , etc . The CI and Brokerage team then came   up with a list of questions they would like to ask the Carriers ( a set list of standard questions , plus some   additional questions based on the type of service the Carrier provided ) . The team then went out and   completed interviews with a sample of the Carrier population . 

 The team aggregated and organized the data into Personas . This took some effort as there was lots of   information to filter and organize . These new Carrier Personas are now used to help validate new and   existing projects . 

 Insight 

 Some of the feedback was quite shocking , once you got the Carriers talking there was considerable   insight to glen from them and a different perspective that was missing from our design step . We did not   realize Carriers were having challenges with specific processes making them very time consuming . We   believe much of this was due to processes that had changed overtime , but the technology and tools had   not been updated to accommodate the changes . 

 We found categorizing the feedback and data from Carriers was time consuming . It took time creating   the personas and grouping specific carriers together , but once the groups started forming it went much   faster . 

 Once we had the personas outlined , we then tested and applied it to our next project . We found it   easier to keep the project streamlined and on task , constantly reflecting if the changes would provide   value to the Carriers and cutting elements that did not provide value . This approach significantly   reduced waste in our design process . 

 Approach 

 I believe the Mind Mapping tool was extremely useful in this challenge , where we continued to lack   direction and understanding of our critical stakeholder . I believe next time we could add Storytelling as   an additional tool that may help draw out critical elements and facts about our Carriers . These stories   could provide important context to help with decision making for our projects ( access priority of   projects and provide insight to specific features or tools that they may require ) . 

 Learning Launch may also prove to be a helpful tool with all project launches . We could design small   incremental changes and seek Carrier feedback for improvements versus the traditional method of over- designing and over - building for the need . 


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 – Design Tool : Mind Mapping 

 Challenge 

 I work for the Continuous Improvement ( CI ) department of a Logistics company . Our department is   responsible for process improvement and innovation , strongly rooted in IT related changes . 

 Our company has a Brokerage division that sells off freight to other trucking companies , we call these   “ Carriers ” . Carriers come in all shapes and sizes , with varying needs and resources . 

 The CI and Brokerage division continued to struggle to understand how we could improve our   service / value offering , and how Carriers wanted to interact with us . We would dream up of new   concepts , services , and processes , and sometimes move these unvalidated ideas through to production   and roll - out , typically with much effort and failure . 

 We realized that we were sometimes investing in the wrong ideas and did not know enough about our   stakeholder . We did not understand what they valued and how they wanted us to interact with them .   We also realized that this group of Carriers has a diverse spectrum of needs and value different things . 

 Selection 

 After some lessons learned on failed projects , we decided to apply the Mind Mapping tool . We needed   to quickly collect large amounts of data from our diverse Carrier group and organize it in a way that we   could then use for decision making . The Mind Mapping tool was a perfect framework to help us with this   challenge . It would help us draw out the differences of our Carrier base so that we could then tailor our   approach and select the right projects to solve the right problems for the right group . 

 Application 

 We set out with a team of five , composed of members of the CI and Brokerage team . The CI team first   started by analyzing all the data they had on the existing Carrier base , slicing , and dicing the data a few   different ways , by volume , region , commodity , service type , etc . The CI and Brokerage team then came   up with a list of questions they would like to ask the Carriers ( a set list of standard questions , plus some   additional questions based on the type of service the Carrier provided ) . The team then went out and   completed interviews with a sample of the Carrier population . 

 The team aggregated and organized the data into Personas . This took some effort as there was lots of   information to filter and organize . These new Carrier Personas are now used to help validate new and   existing projects . 

 Insight 

 Some of the feedback was quite shocking , once you got the Carriers talking there was considerable   insight to glen from them and a different perspective that was missing from our design step . We did not   realize Carriers were having challenges with specific processes making them very time consuming . We   believe much of this was due to processes that had changed overtime , but the technology and tools had   not been updated to accommodate the changes . 

 We found categorizing the feedback and data from Carriers was time consuming . It took time creating   the personas and grouping specific carriers together , but once the groups started forming it went much   faster . 

 Once we had the personas outlined , we then tested and applied it to our next project . We found it   easier to keep the project streamlined and on task , constantly reflecting if the changes would provide   value to the Carriers and cutting elements that did not provide value . This approach significantly   reduced waste in our design process . 

 Approach 

 I believe the Mind Mapping tool was extremely useful in this challenge , where we continued to lack   direction and understanding of our critical stakeholder . I believe next time we could add Storytelling as   an additional tool that may help draw out critical elements and facts about our Carriers . These stories   could provide important context to help with decision making for our projects ( access priority of   projects and provide insight to specific features or tools that they may require ) . 

 Learning Launch may also prove to be a helpful tool with all project launches . We could design small   incremental changes and seek Carrier feedback for improvements versus the traditional method of over- designing and over - building for the need .
### Output: 