Reflection – Visualization 

 This course on Design Thinking has equipped me with very useful knowledge of various techniques I can   apply at my workplace . One of these techniques is the Visualization tool , which I had the opportunity to   test just a week ago for one of the projects I am working on . My supervisor and I were given the task to   lead a website redevelopment project – making the town ’s website more appealing and modern - looking .   This in itself is a very interesting , yet at the same time a very challenging endeavour . The challenge comes   from having to create a product to cater to the tastes of multiple and very diverse audiences , while at the   same time keeping it withing budget and scope . We had to make sure it was easy to navigate , that it   contained the necessary information that both external and internal users ( local residents and visitors ,   investors , entrepreneurs ) , and was overall a vital promotional tool for the town . 

 The challenge came mainly from the lack of agreement as to what the new look should be – we had   accumulated quite a feedback , yet it was more of a criticism of the current look of the website rather than   constructive suggestions on what the new vision should be . Since we were aiming to please a diverse   demographic group ( baby boomers , millennials , etc . ) with different views on what information should be   included and how it should be presented , we had to come out with an out - of - the - box solution . It was then   that I thought the visualization tool can help us produce the results we were looking for . After all , it aims   at helping people arrive at a common understanding of an issue by eliminating the constraints of using   just words . 

 It was of utmost importance for us to establish a common agreement on what the new website should   serve and what we wanted it to incorporate – in other words to create its skeleton and then slowly try to   dress it up in accordance with people ’s comments . In order to do that we decided to form focus groups .   Each focus group included representatives from different age groups and different professions . Also , each   focus group was given a board where they could visualize the structure , they believed the new website   should take . The groups were given one week to meet , discuss and come up with ideas and at the end of   that week , they were to deliver their boards to us . We would then gather all the boards , analyze them   and invite all the groups to discuss the findings . 

 I believe this was one of the best decisions we made as to selecting how to approach the situation . We   were not only actively engaging our stakeholders ( thus assuring them that their input is valuable and   appreciated ) , but by forcing them to actually put the ideas they have in their minds onto paper we had a   clearer understanding on what they found problematic with the website , what was important for them to   see and how they imagined it to look like . It also helped them ( and ultimately us of course ) to see other   people ’s perspective and create a shared vision , respecting each others ’ positions . Since the website   redevelopment project was a major undertaking for the town , consuming a large portion of its budget ,   we wanted to guarantee that it will be a product people would be supportive of in the long - run and thus   getting them on board in the initial stage was very important . 

 As for me , this exercise really showed me the power of the visualization tool in create common   understanding and avoiding misperceptions . Having an idea or a vision in your mind is awesome and you   might think you are explaining it well , but when you work in a group , it is important to make sure that   everyone is on the same page and if that means using images , charts , drawings or other means of   conveying your vision or ideas , by all means do so . I will certainly utilize the visualization tool in further   projects as well . 


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 

 This course on Design Thinking has equipped me with very useful knowledge of various techniques I can   apply at my workplace . One of these techniques is the Visualization tool , which I had the opportunity to   test just a week ago for one of the projects I am working on . My supervisor and I were given the task to   lead a website redevelopment project – making the town ’s website more appealing and modern - looking .   This in itself is a very interesting , yet at the same time a very challenging endeavour . The challenge comes   from having to create a product to cater to the tastes of multiple and very diverse audiences , while at the   same time keeping it withing budget and scope . We had to make sure it was easy to navigate , that it   contained the necessary information that both external and internal users ( local residents and visitors ,   investors , entrepreneurs ) , and was overall a vital promotional tool for the town . 

 The challenge came mainly from the lack of agreement as to what the new look should be – we had   accumulated quite a feedback , yet it was more of a criticism of the current look of the website rather than   constructive suggestions on what the new vision should be . Since we were aiming to please a diverse   demographic group ( baby boomers , millennials , etc . ) with different views on what information should be   included and how it should be presented , we had to come out with an out - of - the - box solution . It was then   that I thought the visualization tool can help us produce the results we were looking for . After all , it aims   at helping people arrive at a common understanding of an issue by eliminating the constraints of using   just words . 

 It was of utmost importance for us to establish a common agreement on what the new website should   serve and what we wanted it to incorporate – in other words to create its skeleton and then slowly try to   dress it up in accordance with people ’s comments . In order to do that we decided to form focus groups .   Each focus group included representatives from different age groups and different professions . Also , each   focus group was given a board where they could visualize the structure , they believed the new website   should take . The groups were given one week to meet , discuss and come up with ideas and at the end of   that week , they were to deliver their boards to us . We would then gather all the boards , analyze them   and invite all the groups to discuss the findings . 

 I believe this was one of the best decisions we made as to selecting how to approach the situation . We   were not only actively engaging our stakeholders ( thus assuring them that their input is valuable and   appreciated ) , but by forcing them to actually put the ideas they have in their minds onto paper we had a   clearer understanding on what they found problematic with the website , what was important for them to   see and how they imagined it to look like . It also helped them ( and ultimately us of course ) to see other   people ’s perspective and create a shared vision , respecting each others ’ positions . Since the website   redevelopment project was a major undertaking for the town , consuming a large portion of its budget ,   we wanted to guarantee that it will be a product people would be supportive of in the long - run and thus   getting them on board in the initial stage was very important . 

 As for me , this exercise really showed me the power of the visualization tool in create common   understanding and avoiding misperceptions . Having an idea or a vision in your mind is awesome and you   might think you are explaining it well , but when you work in a group , it is important to make sure that   everyone is on the same page and if that means using images , charts , drawings or other means of   conveying your vision or ideas , by all means do so . I will certainly utilize the visualization tool in further   projects as well .
### Output: 