Reflection – mind mapping for a new intranet   Design Thinking for Innovation | Assignment | Abdul Thomas 

 Challenge   I am the manager of online services for a government department . After several years without any   major changes to the intranet , we recently felt it was time for it to be redesigned , reinvigorated and   to become more of an engagement channel for staff . The challenge for us was to create an intranet   that met the needs of staff as well as senior management . In particular , to provide an intranet that   helped people do their job . To achieve this , we knew it was important for the new intranet to be co- designed , something that never happened previously . 

 To start our ‘ what is ’ investigation , we carried out a survey of staff to get their feelings about the   intranet . Analysing this data provided some useful insights . What we found was that most people   were generally happy with the intranet , though there were some common themes in the responses :   there were a number of common day - to - day tasks that needed to be made easier , the design was   tired and could be modernised , search could be improved , and the content could be reviewed for   currency . 

 Selection   While the survey provided some useful data and insights , I felt there was a need to re - affirm the   current reality and , as discussed by Cheryl Flores in the lecture material , ‘ establish   criteria for the what - if idea generation phase ’ . The ideal design tool to use for this purpose was mind   mapping . Mind mapping is a method used to find common themes , patterns and insights from data   collected during the ‘ what is ’ phase , to help you to generate an idea or innovation that meets the   need of the customer . Mind mapping was important in this project because it allowed us to really   understand what staff wanted from their intranet , and notably what they did n’t want . It also was an   excellent tool to use to encourage engagement and ownership of the new intranet . 

 Application   In conducting the mind mapping , I organised for 15 participants to join in the session , and ran   several different activities . The participants were representatives from across the department and   were also at all levels , from senior management to more frontline staff . 

 I carried out five separate activities as part of the mind mapping session . Firstly , while together as a   full group at the beginning , each participant was asked to state what they felt was the main purpose   of the intranet , and these responses were recorded on a whiteboard . As responses were recorded ,   there was open discussion from the group . This helped to clearly define the reason for the session   and unified the group with a common aim . Next , I had placed a number of examples of intranet   home pages on the wall around the room . The participants were asked to individually look at each   one , and using sticky notes , identify one thing they liked and one thing they did n’t like about each   example . Each of the notes were grouped together to create common themes . Then the participants   were divided into three groups . Each group was asked to design their ideal intranet using pens and   large sheets of paper provided . This started to bring together the ideas and help us to start defining   the criteria to use when moving to ‘ what if ’ . The last two activities were online - based ones , firstly to   carry out some basic tasks using a rough wireframe my team had developed and secondly to   complete a top task analysis to help identify the most common activities carried out by staff . These   last two activities were carried out individually by the participants . 

 Insight   Using mind mapping as a tool in the design approach really helped us to be better prepared for the   ‘ what if ’ and ‘ what wows ’ phases of the project , which is where we are up to at the moment . It   allowed us to validate some assumptions , exclude some initial ideas and really understand what staff   wanted from the intranet . On a personal level , it helped me to ‘ walk in the shoes ’ of the staff ( i.e. 

 our users ) and appreciate some of their needs and frustrations . It also highlighted to me how critical   the intranet can be to allowing staff to do what they need to do . 

 Using this mind mapping approach has reiterated to me the power of design thinking in exploring   new possibilities for long - standing challenges . Intranets are not new , and are a source of frustration   in many organisations , but by using a design thinking approach I can see many opportunities to   create something that really works . In the past , the intranet team would have developed something   using their best understanding , which may have been an improvement but not ‘ wowed ’ . 

 Approach   I have probably used aspects of mind mapping in many projects that I have undertaken before .   Working in the digital space , it is common practice for us to engage the user heavily in the process .   But the process had not been so clearly defined before . There were some practical learnings I had   which I would do differently next time , including the time allowed for the session ( I felt a little   rushed — more time would be better ) , the rooms used and the process followed . I would probably do   the mind mapping a little earlier in the process too , as we had done some wireframing already . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: Abdul Thomas
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 – mind mapping for a new intranet   Design Thinking for Innovation | Assignment | Abdul Thomas 

 Challenge   I am the manager of online services for a government department . After several years without any   major changes to the intranet , we recently felt it was time for it to be redesigned , reinvigorated and   to become more of an engagement channel for staff . The challenge for us was to create an intranet   that met the needs of staff as well as senior management . In particular , to provide an intranet that   helped people do their job . To achieve this , we knew it was important for the new intranet to be co- designed , something that never happened previously . 

 To start our ‘ what is ’ investigation , we carried out a survey of staff to get their feelings about the   intranet . Analysing this data provided some useful insights . What we found was that most people   were generally happy with the intranet , though there were some common themes in the responses :   there were a number of common day - to - day tasks that needed to be made easier , the design was   tired and could be modernised , search could be improved , and the content could be reviewed for   currency . 

 Selection   While the survey provided some useful data and insights , I felt there was a need to re - affirm the   current reality and , as discussed by Cheryl Flores in the lecture material , ‘ establish   criteria for the what - if idea generation phase ’ . The ideal design tool to use for this purpose was mind   mapping . Mind mapping is a method used to find common themes , patterns and insights from data   collected during the ‘ what is ’ phase , to help you to generate an idea or innovation that meets the   need of the customer . Mind mapping was important in this project because it allowed us to really   understand what staff wanted from their intranet , and notably what they did n’t want . It also was an   excellent tool to use to encourage engagement and ownership of the new intranet . 

 Application   In conducting the mind mapping , I organised for 15 participants to join in the session , and ran   several different activities . The participants were representatives from across the department and   were also at all levels , from senior management to more frontline staff . 

 I carried out five separate activities as part of the mind mapping session . Firstly , while together as a   full group at the beginning , each participant was asked to state what they felt was the main purpose   of the intranet , and these responses were recorded on a whiteboard . As responses were recorded ,   there was open discussion from the group . This helped to clearly define the reason for the session   and unified the group with a common aim . Next , I had placed a number of examples of intranet   home pages on the wall around the room . The participants were asked to individually look at each   one , and using sticky notes , identify one thing they liked and one thing they did n’t like about each   example . Each of the notes were grouped together to create common themes . Then the participants   were divided into three groups . Each group was asked to design their ideal intranet using pens and   large sheets of paper provided . This started to bring together the ideas and help us to start defining   the criteria to use when moving to ‘ what if ’ . The last two activities were online - based ones , firstly to   carry out some basic tasks using a rough wireframe my team had developed and secondly to   complete a top task analysis to help identify the most common activities carried out by staff . These   last two activities were carried out individually by the participants . 

 Insight   Using mind mapping as a tool in the design approach really helped us to be better prepared for the   ‘ what if ’ and ‘ what wows ’ phases of the project , which is where we are up to at the moment . It   allowed us to validate some assumptions , exclude some initial ideas and really understand what staff   wanted from the intranet . On a personal level , it helped me to ‘ walk in the shoes ’ of the staff ( i.e. 

 our users ) and appreciate some of their needs and frustrations . It also highlighted to me how critical   the intranet can be to allowing staff to do what they need to do . 

 Using this mind mapping approach has reiterated to me the power of design thinking in exploring   new possibilities for long - standing challenges . Intranets are not new , and are a source of frustration   in many organisations , but by using a design thinking approach I can see many opportunities to   create something that really works . In the past , the intranet team would have developed something   using their best understanding , which may have been an improvement but not ‘ wowed ’ . 

 Approach   I have probably used aspects of mind mapping in many projects that I have undertaken before .   Working in the digital space , it is common practice for us to engage the user heavily in the process .   But the process had not been so clearly defined before . There were some practical learnings I had   which I would do differently next time , including the time allowed for the session ( I felt a little   rushed — more time would be better ) , the rooms used and the process followed . I would probably do   the mind mapping a little earlier in the process too , as we had done some wireframing already .
### Output: 