Mind Mapping ( Module 3 ) 

 Challenge 

 I work as a Senior Business Analyst for a global corporation which has recently went through   restructuring . In short , the top management decided to spin - off part of the company as a separate   organization . The new company incorporates 3 business units and supporting functions ( such as   Business Planning & Analysis - the function I work at ) and has subsidiaries in over 50 countries . A key   change aspect for the functions is that the teams are not anymore responsible for the operations   only in their local country but have now regional responsibility – allocation of up to five countries .   This means that my team is now responsible for three big countries . Because of this change we faced   the challenge of coping with increased workload in a new environment with markets we were not   familiar with . However , as we work for a fast - growing organization , the work pace was too quick , and   we needed an efficient solution to stop the chaos around and re - design our processes . We wanted to   collaborate with teams from other regions to create unified processes within the division . 

 Selection 

 The key feature of the Mind mapping tool is looking for patterns and insights in large quantity of data   collected during the What Is stage , as Professor Marian Moor explains in a video from Week 3 of the   course . The goal is to create a mind map at the end of the What Is stage . The mind map typically   represents a drawing with short notes organized in clusters and shows graphically the connections   between them . I was standing between the What Is and What If phase and selected the tool because   it is an excellent approach to create an overview of the situation and set an impulse for going   forward in a creative and efficient way . On the one hand , the tool was very useful as it was not   supposed to represent only my mind , but what could be in the mind of our stakeholders – in our case   the business leaders of the regions . On the other hand , I was searching for an efficient way to draw   the attention of the people who work within the division and to facilitate the quick understanding of   concepts and the linkages between them . 

 Application 

 The Mind mapping tool was applied during a workshop of the EMEA Business Planning & Analysis   division . Around 40 division members representing 7 EMEA regions attended the workshop . The   communality between us was that because of the extended regional responsibility we were all facing   the same challenge . The Mind mapping workshop had the following structure : 

 1 . What do we work on - All teams attending the workshop were required to write on yellow 

 sticky notes all the processes they are working at and on pink sticky notes all the   stakeholders they are working for . The teams were encouraged to have a discussion and to   pin the notes on a board . 

 2 . How long does it take – The teams were asked to estimate the time for each process .   3 . Where are the connections – The teams were required to link the yellow ( processes ) and 

 pink ( stakeholders ) notes to each other , multiple linkages were possible . 

 4 . What are the priorities – The teams were asked to create a ranking of the stakeholders and a 

 ranking of activities required by each stakeholder . Discussion time was allocated to this   stage . 

 5 . What are the communalities – At the end we combined the notes from all teams and 

 created a map which looked like the Solar System . Our division was representing the Sun ,   and the stake holders were representing the planets . Thus , important stakeholders who   needed more attention from us represented planets closer to the Sun . Notes with a process 

 name and time estimation written on them were pinned to each planet . We used this map   for the final presentation and for the criteria establishment discussion . 

 Insight 

 This was a successful application of the tool as it allowed us to link the “ What is ” to “ What if ” . By   creating our Solar System and clustering the activities to stakeholders we gained a comprehensive   overview of the What Is situation . By allocating time to each process we were able to estimate the   time dedicated to each stake holder and to establish criteria for the What If phase . I realized that   having a mind map depicting the situation instead of creating a large list of related activities   facilitates understanding by providing an easy , visual access to the information . Further , involving   more people in the workshop enhanced the engagement of the teams and helped us gain insights   about the similarities between the regions . Applying creative solutions to people who are normally   occupied with analytical work created an atmosphere of experiencing something exotic and exclusive   and enhanced the attention and motivation of the teams . 

 Approach 

 In general , I would definitely continue applying design thinking tools to my audience – people who   are used to analytical approaches . The main reasons are that it creates exclusive atmosphere , leads   to good solutions and motivates people . As we used the Visualization tool for our next step , I dare to   say that a combination of Mind Mapping and Visualization is a strategy which proved its success in   our work . Thus , I do not consider the option of applying an alternative tool as this one works   excellently but consider a combination of two tools . However , if there is something which we can do   differently next time , it would be to hire a professional illustrator for our workshops who can give us   creative impulses and help us with the drawings . The reason is that many people stated after the   workshop that they could do better on the creative part and would like to improve . Limited drawing   skills should not be a reason to skip the workshop . 


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: Mind Mapping ( Module 3 ) 

 Challenge 

 I work as a Senior Business Analyst for a global corporation which has recently went through   restructuring . In short , the top management decided to spin - off part of the company as a separate   organization . The new company incorporates 3 business units and supporting functions ( such as   Business Planning & Analysis - the function I work at ) and has subsidiaries in over 50 countries . A key   change aspect for the functions is that the teams are not anymore responsible for the operations   only in their local country but have now regional responsibility – allocation of up to five countries .   This means that my team is now responsible for three big countries . Because of this change we faced   the challenge of coping with increased workload in a new environment with markets we were not   familiar with . However , as we work for a fast - growing organization , the work pace was too quick , and   we needed an efficient solution to stop the chaos around and re - design our processes . We wanted to   collaborate with teams from other regions to create unified processes within the division . 

 Selection 

 The key feature of the Mind mapping tool is looking for patterns and insights in large quantity of data   collected during the What Is stage , as Professor Marian Moor explains in a video from Week 3 of the   course . The goal is to create a mind map at the end of the What Is stage . The mind map typically   represents a drawing with short notes organized in clusters and shows graphically the connections   between them . I was standing between the What Is and What If phase and selected the tool because   it is an excellent approach to create an overview of the situation and set an impulse for going   forward in a creative and efficient way . On the one hand , the tool was very useful as it was not   supposed to represent only my mind , but what could be in the mind of our stakeholders – in our case   the business leaders of the regions . On the other hand , I was searching for an efficient way to draw   the attention of the people who work within the division and to facilitate the quick understanding of   concepts and the linkages between them . 

 Application 

 The Mind mapping tool was applied during a workshop of the EMEA Business Planning & Analysis   division . Around 40 division members representing 7 EMEA regions attended the workshop . The   communality between us was that because of the extended regional responsibility we were all facing   the same challenge . The Mind mapping workshop had the following structure : 

 1 . What do we work on - All teams attending the workshop were required to write on yellow 

 sticky notes all the processes they are working at and on pink sticky notes all the   stakeholders they are working for . The teams were encouraged to have a discussion and to   pin the notes on a board . 

 2 . How long does it take – The teams were asked to estimate the time for each process .   3 . Where are the connections – The teams were required to link the yellow ( processes ) and 

 pink ( stakeholders ) notes to each other , multiple linkages were possible . 

 4 . What are the priorities – The teams were asked to create a ranking of the stakeholders and a 

 ranking of activities required by each stakeholder . Discussion time was allocated to this   stage . 

 5 . What are the communalities – At the end we combined the notes from all teams and 

 created a map which looked like the Solar System . Our division was representing the Sun ,   and the stake holders were representing the planets . Thus , important stakeholders who   needed more attention from us represented planets closer to the Sun . Notes with a process 

 name and time estimation written on them were pinned to each planet . We used this map   for the final presentation and for the criteria establishment discussion . 

 Insight 

 This was a successful application of the tool as it allowed us to link the “ What is ” to “ What if ” . By   creating our Solar System and clustering the activities to stakeholders we gained a comprehensive   overview of the What Is situation . By allocating time to each process we were able to estimate the   time dedicated to each stake holder and to establish criteria for the What If phase . I realized that   having a mind map depicting the situation instead of creating a large list of related activities   facilitates understanding by providing an easy , visual access to the information . Further , involving   more people in the workshop enhanced the engagement of the teams and helped us gain insights   about the similarities between the regions . Applying creative solutions to people who are normally   occupied with analytical work created an atmosphere of experiencing something exotic and exclusive   and enhanced the attention and motivation of the teams . 

 Approach 

 In general , I would definitely continue applying design thinking tools to my audience – people who   are used to analytical approaches . The main reasons are that it creates exclusive atmosphere , leads   to good solutions and motivates people . As we used the Visualization tool for our next step , I dare to   say that a combination of Mind Mapping and Visualization is a strategy which proved its success in   our work . Thus , I do not consider the option of applying an alternative tool as this one works   excellently but consider a combination of two tools . However , if there is something which we can do   differently next time , it would be to hire a professional illustrator for our workshops who can give us   creative impulses and help us with the drawings . The reason is that many people stated after the   workshop that they could do better on the creative part and would like to improve . Limited drawing   skills should not be a reason to skip the workshop .
### Output: 