Challenge 

 In my information technology career in automotive sector , requirement to solve problems through   computer programs come from various stakeholders such as product development engineers ,   purchasing teams , test engineers and business sponsors .   All teams bring their perspectives to the table   and have domain knowledge of their area only .   This puts information technology team in a special   position to understand the business logic , assumptions and uncover any constraints that these teams   have been working with .   Further , translating technical and business language into computer software   requirements is big challenge as work is performed by various team members to implement the solution   who have far less knowledge of automotive engineering aspects .   Having common understanding of   business problem to be solved among different stakeholders . 

 Selection 

 I have used Visualization for a project that I have worked on from inception to deployment .    Visualization has help me better understand , integrate , translate and communicate the complex   problem in easy terms . I have frequently used Visualization in form of flow diagrams , roadmaps ,   strawman diagrams or fishbone diagram , enabling all involved to grasp the idea or approach at a faster   pace while uncovering any dependencies on external interfaces .   Working with people of diverse   professional backgrounds , understanding of a problem and framing questions around is a critical success   factor .   In automotive industry , I have used visualization when business sponsor brings a problem for I.T.   to solve , I begin with high - level picture ( also known as 50,000 feet view ) of the problem with a flow   diagram made up of 3 boxes-   input , process and output . This simple diagram anchors team around   what is needed / available to start the work ( input ) and what is expected deliverables ( output ) while the   middle section ( process ) is where I.T. team of experts will develop the solution to the problem . 

 Application 

 Beginning with a simple flow diagram when meeting with business subject matter expert ( SME ) is the   first step . This diagram provides high - level understanding of challenge ( or problem ) at hand in terms of   what data , interfaces or inputs business will make available and what kind of output in terms of analysis ,   reports , or actions is expected .   This simple high - level flow also highlights where are unknowns in the   requirements that we need to understand better in following sessions .   In addition to what critical   success factors are also noted . 

 Once the high - level understanding is established around the challenge , I started to decompose each of   the box to next level to gather information at greater detail for design of the solution . This will involve   working with various teams , stakeholders and subject matter expects such as quality control , security ,   legal and operations management . This will be accomplished by asking questions in 1 - on-1 meetings ,   through workshops and via secondary research work . I met with each stakeholder groups and started   building on to the flow diagram with additional functions , actions , user inputs , etc . provided as feedback   to my open ended questions .   Following few questions provided insight to me to expand the flow chart 

 Input   Process   Output 

 are – 1 . Where does data come from and what is frequency and format of the data is ? 2 . What happens   next and how is this accomplished today ? 3 . What could go wrong in all these steps ? 4 . How does output   looks like and who uses it and when ?    These meetings with stakeholders resulted in better clarity and   sometimes made adjustment to the approach or final output .   When flow chart is completed with the   details , another Visualization tool is used to capture the understanding the delivery and   accomplishments . This is also in project management terms called Critical Milestone Chart .   This   conveys the duration of the project , where we are , what has been completed and what is expected to   be delivered and when . It also shows what is at risk ( when denoted with yellow ) or late ( when denoted   with red diamond ) . Green diamond shows completed successfully . An intermediate flow diagram with   input looked like this : 

 Insight & Approach 

 Being a visual lerner myself , what I have gained from Visualization exercise is that it is very simple yet   effective tool for common understanding .   A diverse group of people can be on same page about the   challenge , solution and approach when looking at a graphic than reading a document .   It is also easy to    incorporate feedback during discussions and uncovers unkowns easily when working with visualization   of a problem . Further when the process flow is put next to a timeline in form of Critical Milestone Chart ,   it helps understand the effort involved and feasiblity of the delivery commitment given the duration .   Graphic display of process and timeline helps team members who are not engaged in requirement   capturing session quickly grasp the understanding . This is a collaboration exercise and could be   continously improved or refined as greater details are available with the time .   Another important   insight is that once the flow diagram and milestone chart are developed , all teams been using it for   clarificaitons and discussions around commitmments as a reference document .   This tools has been very   useful in expaining project and delivery timeline to business executives . 

 This tools has made communication much clearer , I plan to share my insights and learning experience   with my co - workers about it and encourgae others to use the visualization activity as a collaborative tool   to incorporate feedback , develop common understanding and communicate more effectively . 

 Jan22 

 Process A 

 Doc 

 P Data 

 Process B 

 Process C 

 P Data   C Data 

 Process D   Reports 

 Jan12 

 Data avail 

 Feb 21   Apr12   Jun 05   Aug 8   Sep 12 

 Start   Process A   Process B   Process C   Process D   Complete 

 Today 


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: Challenge 

 In my information technology career in automotive sector , requirement to solve problems through   computer programs come from various stakeholders such as product development engineers ,   purchasing teams , test engineers and business sponsors .   All teams bring their perspectives to the table   and have domain knowledge of their area only .   This puts information technology team in a special   position to understand the business logic , assumptions and uncover any constraints that these teams   have been working with .   Further , translating technical and business language into computer software   requirements is big challenge as work is performed by various team members to implement the solution   who have far less knowledge of automotive engineering aspects .   Having common understanding of   business problem to be solved among different stakeholders . 

 Selection 

 I have used Visualization for a project that I have worked on from inception to deployment .    Visualization has help me better understand , integrate , translate and communicate the complex   problem in easy terms . I have frequently used Visualization in form of flow diagrams , roadmaps ,   strawman diagrams or fishbone diagram , enabling all involved to grasp the idea or approach at a faster   pace while uncovering any dependencies on external interfaces .   Working with people of diverse   professional backgrounds , understanding of a problem and framing questions around is a critical success   factor .   In automotive industry , I have used visualization when business sponsor brings a problem for I.T.   to solve , I begin with high - level picture ( also known as 50,000 feet view ) of the problem with a flow   diagram made up of 3 boxes-   input , process and output . This simple diagram anchors team around   what is needed / available to start the work ( input ) and what is expected deliverables ( output ) while the   middle section ( process ) is where I.T. team of experts will develop the solution to the problem . 

 Application 

 Beginning with a simple flow diagram when meeting with business subject matter expert ( SME ) is the   first step . This diagram provides high - level understanding of challenge ( or problem ) at hand in terms of   what data , interfaces or inputs business will make available and what kind of output in terms of analysis ,   reports , or actions is expected .   This simple high - level flow also highlights where are unknowns in the   requirements that we need to understand better in following sessions .   In addition to what critical   success factors are also noted . 

 Once the high - level understanding is established around the challenge , I started to decompose each of   the box to next level to gather information at greater detail for design of the solution . This will involve   working with various teams , stakeholders and subject matter expects such as quality control , security ,   legal and operations management . This will be accomplished by asking questions in 1 - on-1 meetings ,   through workshops and via secondary research work . I met with each stakeholder groups and started   building on to the flow diagram with additional functions , actions , user inputs , etc . provided as feedback   to my open ended questions .   Following few questions provided insight to me to expand the flow chart 

 Input   Process   Output 

 are – 1 . Where does data come from and what is frequency and format of the data is ? 2 . What happens   next and how is this accomplished today ? 3 . What could go wrong in all these steps ? 4 . How does output   looks like and who uses it and when ?    These meetings with stakeholders resulted in better clarity and   sometimes made adjustment to the approach or final output .   When flow chart is completed with the   details , another Visualization tool is used to capture the understanding the delivery and   accomplishments . This is also in project management terms called Critical Milestone Chart .   This   conveys the duration of the project , where we are , what has been completed and what is expected to   be delivered and when . It also shows what is at risk ( when denoted with yellow ) or late ( when denoted   with red diamond ) . Green diamond shows completed successfully . An intermediate flow diagram with   input looked like this : 

 Insight & Approach 

 Being a visual lerner myself , what I have gained from Visualization exercise is that it is very simple yet   effective tool for common understanding .   A diverse group of people can be on same page about the   challenge , solution and approach when looking at a graphic than reading a document .   It is also easy to    incorporate feedback during discussions and uncovers unkowns easily when working with visualization   of a problem . Further when the process flow is put next to a timeline in form of Critical Milestone Chart ,   it helps understand the effort involved and feasiblity of the delivery commitment given the duration .   Graphic display of process and timeline helps team members who are not engaged in requirement   capturing session quickly grasp the understanding . This is a collaboration exercise and could be   continously improved or refined as greater details are available with the time .   Another important   insight is that once the flow diagram and milestone chart are developed , all teams been using it for   clarificaitons and discussions around commitmments as a reference document .   This tools has been very   useful in expaining project and delivery timeline to business executives . 

 This tools has made communication much clearer , I plan to share my insights and learning experience   with my co - workers about it and encourgae others to use the visualization activity as a collaborative tool   to incorporate feedback , develop common understanding and communicate more effectively . 

 Jan22 

 Process A 

 Doc 

 P Data 

 Process B 

 Process C 

 P Data   C Data 

 Process D   Reports 

 Jan12 

 Data avail 

 Feb 21   Apr12   Jun 05   Aug 8   Sep 12 

 Start   Process A   Process B   Process C   Process D   Complete 

 Today
### Output: 