Design Thinking for Innovation – Reflection       Darden School of Business 

 Mohamed Cruz 

 Design Thinking for Innovation – Reflection   Darden School of Business – University of Virginia   ” Innovation project proposal ”       Challenge   My challenge was to motivate a diverse group of stakeholders to greenlight a collaborative   technology project which would require a commitment of time and resources from their   departments , and close cooperation with our client . I had existing relationships with some of the   stakeholders whilst others were relatively new . The meeting participants had different cultural and   professional backgrounds , they were located in different parts of the world and all spoke English   as a second language . My meeting was online via Skype which meant that I would need to rely   on verbal communication together with graphic presentation and would not have the advantage   of being in the same room as my colleagues .      A key challenge was that my proposal required a new method of collaboration and innovation in   our organisation and would require participants to commit in part to ” the unknown ” . Existing   project templates were not sufficient . I had a clear objective and problem to solve from the client   side but not a clear map to get there .       Selection   I selected Visualization as my tool for this challenge because I needed to communicate several   complex ideas quickly and simply to a diverse audience . I am confident in my verbal   communication skills but I wanted to create a series of simple images which would help create a   common understanding of the problem and the mission . The strength of visual tools versus the   purely visual is emphasized in the video on the visualization tool ” When we 're talking and we 're   verbalizing things we see things internally , but we may all be understanding the words in a slightly   different way . ”     I had a limited amount of time ( 1 hour ) to explain my proposal , get feedback and finally get   commitment to the project . I needed to acheive understanding and consensus fast . As Angela   Myer states , the more you create a visual image of what you are thinking , ” the more likely you   are to achieve a sense of agreement and consensus with people ” .       Application   I prepared a series of slides which included simple , colorful graphics and animation where   appropriate . The presentation was designed to explain to my colleagues : 1 ) The background   context to this proposal 2 ) The technical practicalities 3 ) The resources involved 4 ) The   commitment I required from them .     Visualization was critically important to two slides in particular . Firstly , It was essential to clarify   a complex technical concept in a simplified way and in a way which drew the attention . I did this   by creating a before and after animation which showed the technical solution being   implemented . Secondly , the slide where I explained the advantages of the proposal for our   organisation and our client . I used a limted colour pallet to simplify the visual messages and   repeated this palette throughout my presentation to create a unique visual language / identity . 

 Design Thinking for Innovation – Reflection       Darden School of Business 

 Mohamed Cruz 

 Insight    The project was approved by everyone present and I think that a large contributing factor was   the use of clear visual communication to engage and inspire my colleagues . From a design- thinking perspective , before the presentation I had carefully considered the strategic objectives   and motivations of each participant and made sure that these were included clearly and simply   in the presentation . Using visualisation to communicate a complex technical complex in a simple   way was also a good way of explaining the project quickly and allowed the discussion to focus   on the end goal of the project and the benefits and not only technical detail . I was concious that   the precise method ( technical solution ) might change , but that the fundamental purpose of the   project would remain the same , and this was the vision / purpose that I needed to communicate .      I was concious that for my organisation to adopt and approve this project , participants would   need to have a growth mindset , the willingness to learn , to fail fast and cheaply and to iterate . I   was careful to communicate all of this during my presentation and the following discussion ,   framing it as a wonderful opportunity to do things creatively and to discover new solutions for   the benefit of our partners and ourselves .         Approach   I expect to give similar presentations in the future , and I intend to continue using visualisation to   communicate and inspire debate on innovation projects . On reflection I will also consider using   storytelling to a greater extent to support my communication . For example , I am considering   referencing specific individuals on the client side and communicating their individual needs and   objectives to help build the narrative and motivation for such projects . Ultimately , my work has   to be human - centered , and while I know my clients individually , many of my colleagues do not   have that personal relationship with them , so I must be careful to explain elements of the ’ story ’   which I already know but which my colleagues may not .     Storytelling would also allow me to project individual future success for my internal stakeholders   in a focused an engaging way . What I previously described using words and abstract or   technical imagery could be supported by individual human characters whose journey / experience   can be illustrated from the first presentation itself through to the successful completion of the   project and the resulting benefits for them and their organisations . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: Mohamed Cruz, Mohamed Cruz
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: Design Thinking for Innovation – Reflection       Darden School of Business 

 Mohamed Cruz 

 Design Thinking for Innovation – Reflection   Darden School of Business – University of Virginia   ” Innovation project proposal ”       Challenge   My challenge was to motivate a diverse group of stakeholders to greenlight a collaborative   technology project which would require a commitment of time and resources from their   departments , and close cooperation with our client . I had existing relationships with some of the   stakeholders whilst others were relatively new . The meeting participants had different cultural and   professional backgrounds , they were located in different parts of the world and all spoke English   as a second language . My meeting was online via Skype which meant that I would need to rely   on verbal communication together with graphic presentation and would not have the advantage   of being in the same room as my colleagues .      A key challenge was that my proposal required a new method of collaboration and innovation in   our organisation and would require participants to commit in part to ” the unknown ” . Existing   project templates were not sufficient . I had a clear objective and problem to solve from the client   side but not a clear map to get there .       Selection   I selected Visualization as my tool for this challenge because I needed to communicate several   complex ideas quickly and simply to a diverse audience . I am confident in my verbal   communication skills but I wanted to create a series of simple images which would help create a   common understanding of the problem and the mission . The strength of visual tools versus the   purely visual is emphasized in the video on the visualization tool ” When we 're talking and we 're   verbalizing things we see things internally , but we may all be understanding the words in a slightly   different way . ”     I had a limited amount of time ( 1 hour ) to explain my proposal , get feedback and finally get   commitment to the project . I needed to acheive understanding and consensus fast . As Angela   Myer states , the more you create a visual image of what you are thinking , ” the more likely you   are to achieve a sense of agreement and consensus with people ” .       Application   I prepared a series of slides which included simple , colorful graphics and animation where   appropriate . The presentation was designed to explain to my colleagues : 1 ) The background   context to this proposal 2 ) The technical practicalities 3 ) The resources involved 4 ) The   commitment I required from them .     Visualization was critically important to two slides in particular . Firstly , It was essential to clarify   a complex technical concept in a simplified way and in a way which drew the attention . I did this   by creating a before and after animation which showed the technical solution being   implemented . Secondly , the slide where I explained the advantages of the proposal for our   organisation and our client . I used a limted colour pallet to simplify the visual messages and   repeated this palette throughout my presentation to create a unique visual language / identity . 

 Design Thinking for Innovation – Reflection       Darden School of Business 

 Mohamed Cruz 

 Insight    The project was approved by everyone present and I think that a large contributing factor was   the use of clear visual communication to engage and inspire my colleagues . From a design- thinking perspective , before the presentation I had carefully considered the strategic objectives   and motivations of each participant and made sure that these were included clearly and simply   in the presentation . Using visualisation to communicate a complex technical complex in a simple   way was also a good way of explaining the project quickly and allowed the discussion to focus   on the end goal of the project and the benefits and not only technical detail . I was concious that   the precise method ( technical solution ) might change , but that the fundamental purpose of the   project would remain the same , and this was the vision / purpose that I needed to communicate .      I was concious that for my organisation to adopt and approve this project , participants would   need to have a growth mindset , the willingness to learn , to fail fast and cheaply and to iterate . I   was careful to communicate all of this during my presentation and the following discussion ,   framing it as a wonderful opportunity to do things creatively and to discover new solutions for   the benefit of our partners and ourselves .         Approach   I expect to give similar presentations in the future , and I intend to continue using visualisation to   communicate and inspire debate on innovation projects . On reflection I will also consider using   storytelling to a greater extent to support my communication . For example , I am considering   referencing specific individuals on the client side and communicating their individual needs and   objectives to help build the narrative and motivation for such projects . Ultimately , my work has   to be human - centered , and while I know my clients individually , many of my colleagues do not   have that personal relationship with them , so I must be careful to explain elements of the ’ story ’   which I already know but which my colleagues may not .     Storytelling would also allow me to project individual future success for my internal stakeholders   in a focused an engaging way . What I previously described using words and abstract or   technical imagery could be supported by individual human characters whose journey / experience   can be illustrated from the first presentation itself through to the successful completion of the   project and the resulting benefits for them and their organisations .
### Output: 