Design Thinking Assignment : Reflection : Visualisation 

 Challenge : 

 Deliver an effective IT escalations service for a global company with 24/7 operations , 365 days a year . 

 My team provides first level IT support , handling in excess of 20,000 IT interactions per month , and even   though SLA ’s are consistently achieved , are at or above Gartner identified targets , including customer   satisfaction at good or excellent , consistently over 90 % , this does not change the end user experience being   considered poor based upon escalated tickets which account for around 2.5 % of the ticket volume on a   monthly basis .     Escalations used to be handled via a mail box , we then automated this service via our ticket   management toolset – to ‘ improve it ’ , and thus increased our ‘ end users ’ ability to easily create an   escalation , but not our ability to effectively manage these , solve or stop escalations being needed at all .   We   are very focussed on improving the process to improve our end users experience . 

 Selection : 

 I chose Visualisation , to try and capture the sentiment and understanding of the issues that we are facing .   I   wanted to provide a foundation document that could be used to then identify and engage with stakeholders   to determine the project approach , scale and scope of issues , to start my ‘ What is ’ .    I was seeking to provide   a representation that everyone who comes in to contact with this process , in one way or another could   recognise our ‘ current reality ’ , as it is referred to in ‘ Designing for Growth ’ – and used simple drawings to   show the ‘ end user ’ as a person – so that we all understood who we are trying to help – ( as pointed out in   the Visualisation video – a picture shows exactly what you are trying to describe ) and thus seeking to move   the conversation beyond the numbers / statistics that surround this service . 

 Application : 

 I prepared a briefing deck to use to generate discussion around the challenge – seeking to identify all that we   know about the current situation .   One of the slides is below – seeking to capture what is happening and   how people are feeling .   There is an analytical element to the activity – however all this data had n’t to date   solved the problem , so whilst acknowledging it exists , and is available to inform – I wanted to ensure that   the key stakeholders for the ‘ What is ? ’ stage understood that there were issues not being surfaced by data   alone – hence the ‘ visual ’ approach . 

 This deck will be used to scope the project – and achieve an agreed starting point from which we can then   confirm that we have enough information to identify the right opportunities and success criteria and to 

 Mellissa Lustri – March 2017 

 complete the Design Brief .   Initial people I have shared it with have confirmed that it identifies the people   nature of the issue far more than the graphs and data previously used .   It will then continue to be developed   and grow with the project , as persona ’s are developed for each of the key participants , through to the   Learning Launch . 

 Insight : 

 In preparing the tools to underpin the stakeholder sessions to commence this project it became very clear to   me that this was n’t about improving the Escalations ‘ process ’ – and it was n’t just about improving the   service to assist our end users – everyone was impacted negatively by the need for such a process and then   by its failure , when needed , to deliver the required results .   I was reminded of ‘ The Good Kitchen ’ from   Week one of the course – the risk of narrowing the question before you start the research and thus missing   the entire point of how things can be improved . 

 I then recalled an interaction with a friend many years ago , who worked in a ‘ Lost Luggage ’ office for an   airline – and expressed : “ of course we lose luggage … if we did n’t then we would n’t need a lost luggage   office … ” .   The escalations challenge is n’t to build a better process ; it is so much more than that .   We need to   go back to the very beginning , why do people need to raise a ticket at all , let alone escalate ? 

 Most importantly I was reminded that we had lost sight of the people , and how unhappy everyone involved   with the ‘ escalation process ’ was .   We had no empathy for the people we are supposed to be ‘ supporting ’   nor the support teams .   We use terms that describe roles , ‘ end user ’ , ‘ agent ’ , ‘ resolver ’ – and this hides the   reality of how our people - all of our people – are feeling …   This highlighted to me the importance of creating   persona ’s for all the ‘ players ’ in an IT support ticket activity . 

 Separately I found the process of approaching a challenge with a design thinking , human centred focus ,   refreshing , invigorating and stimulating .   In using visualisation techniques I was also energised by the   challenge and the approach and new ideas ( solutions – I tried to note down separately to review later )   started popping in to my head . 

 Approach : 

 Design Thinking is gaining great traction in my workplace , with people undertaking training in various   locations across the Globe , however in my location , and my area of responsibility I have very few locally   based colleagues .   I therefore prepared my project deck , with initial visual concepts , the current state , in   isolation .   Though the current challenges of this process are discussed very regularly and impact on my daily   activities – I feel that even in this initial ‘ baselining ’ of our ‘ reality ’ – if I could have prepared this tool , this   deck , with a few colleagues that it would have been a much more effective tool before it was issued for it ’s   first iteration . 

 In future , if I can not work with colleagues in person in developing a tool such as this to start a process , I will   utilise technology , such as a Webex , to hold a meeting with a virtual whiteboard that we all can collaborate   and draw out the breadth of the current state – and thus – the opportunity .   I believe the conscious effort to   engage more and solution less ( until the time is right ) will bring amazing improvements and opportunities in   my organisation . 


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: Design Thinking Assignment : Reflection : Visualisation 

 Challenge : 

 Deliver an effective IT escalations service for a global company with 24/7 operations , 365 days a year . 

 My team provides first level IT support , handling in excess of 20,000 IT interactions per month , and even   though SLA ’s are consistently achieved , are at or above Gartner identified targets , including customer   satisfaction at good or excellent , consistently over 90 % , this does not change the end user experience being   considered poor based upon escalated tickets which account for around 2.5 % of the ticket volume on a   monthly basis .     Escalations used to be handled via a mail box , we then automated this service via our ticket   management toolset – to ‘ improve it ’ , and thus increased our ‘ end users ’ ability to easily create an   escalation , but not our ability to effectively manage these , solve or stop escalations being needed at all .   We   are very focussed on improving the process to improve our end users experience . 

 Selection : 

 I chose Visualisation , to try and capture the sentiment and understanding of the issues that we are facing .   I   wanted to provide a foundation document that could be used to then identify and engage with stakeholders   to determine the project approach , scale and scope of issues , to start my ‘ What is ’ .    I was seeking to provide   a representation that everyone who comes in to contact with this process , in one way or another could   recognise our ‘ current reality ’ , as it is referred to in ‘ Designing for Growth ’ – and used simple drawings to   show the ‘ end user ’ as a person – so that we all understood who we are trying to help – ( as pointed out in   the Visualisation video – a picture shows exactly what you are trying to describe ) and thus seeking to move   the conversation beyond the numbers / statistics that surround this service . 

 Application : 

 I prepared a briefing deck to use to generate discussion around the challenge – seeking to identify all that we   know about the current situation .   One of the slides is below – seeking to capture what is happening and   how people are feeling .   There is an analytical element to the activity – however all this data had n’t to date   solved the problem , so whilst acknowledging it exists , and is available to inform – I wanted to ensure that   the key stakeholders for the ‘ What is ? ’ stage understood that there were issues not being surfaced by data   alone – hence the ‘ visual ’ approach . 

 This deck will be used to scope the project – and achieve an agreed starting point from which we can then   confirm that we have enough information to identify the right opportunities and success criteria and to 

 Mellissa Lustri – March 2017 

 complete the Design Brief .   Initial people I have shared it with have confirmed that it identifies the people   nature of the issue far more than the graphs and data previously used .   It will then continue to be developed   and grow with the project , as persona ’s are developed for each of the key participants , through to the   Learning Launch . 

 Insight : 

 In preparing the tools to underpin the stakeholder sessions to commence this project it became very clear to   me that this was n’t about improving the Escalations ‘ process ’ – and it was n’t just about improving the   service to assist our end users – everyone was impacted negatively by the need for such a process and then   by its failure , when needed , to deliver the required results .   I was reminded of ‘ The Good Kitchen ’ from   Week one of the course – the risk of narrowing the question before you start the research and thus missing   the entire point of how things can be improved . 

 I then recalled an interaction with a friend many years ago , who worked in a ‘ Lost Luggage ’ office for an   airline – and expressed : “ of course we lose luggage … if we did n’t then we would n’t need a lost luggage   office … ” .   The escalations challenge is n’t to build a better process ; it is so much more than that .   We need to   go back to the very beginning , why do people need to raise a ticket at all , let alone escalate ? 

 Most importantly I was reminded that we had lost sight of the people , and how unhappy everyone involved   with the ‘ escalation process ’ was .   We had no empathy for the people we are supposed to be ‘ supporting ’   nor the support teams .   We use terms that describe roles , ‘ end user ’ , ‘ agent ’ , ‘ resolver ’ – and this hides the   reality of how our people - all of our people – are feeling …   This highlighted to me the importance of creating   persona ’s for all the ‘ players ’ in an IT support ticket activity . 

 Separately I found the process of approaching a challenge with a design thinking , human centred focus ,   refreshing , invigorating and stimulating .   In using visualisation techniques I was also energised by the   challenge and the approach and new ideas ( solutions – I tried to note down separately to review later )   started popping in to my head . 

 Approach : 

 Design Thinking is gaining great traction in my workplace , with people undertaking training in various   locations across the Globe , however in my location , and my area of responsibility I have very few locally   based colleagues .   I therefore prepared my project deck , with initial visual concepts , the current state , in   isolation .   Though the current challenges of this process are discussed very regularly and impact on my daily   activities – I feel that even in this initial ‘ baselining ’ of our ‘ reality ’ – if I could have prepared this tool , this   deck , with a few colleagues that it would have been a much more effective tool before it was issued for it ’s   first iteration . 

 In future , if I can not work with colleagues in person in developing a tool such as this to start a process , I will   utilise technology , such as a Webex , to hold a meeting with a virtual whiteboard that we all can collaborate   and draw out the breadth of the current state – and thus – the opportunity .   I believe the conscious effort to   engage more and solution less ( until the time is right ) will bring amazing improvements and opportunities in   my organisation .
### Output: 