   1 

 1   Challenge : Describe your challenge , including all relevant information . 

 My role is that of a Bid Manager in a large information technology service provider . As a Bid Manager , I   am accountable for delivering proposals tailored to clients ’ requirements in a timely manner . This   process involves working with multiple teams within and outside our organization to create a winning   proposition for the client . Once an opportunity is identified , a Bid Manager needs to work with different   teams such as Sales , Delivery , Solution Competencies , Legal , Senior Leadership , Third Parties , etc . to   ensure that these stakeholders understand the requirements of the bid and contribute effectively in   their respective responsibility areas in the proposal . 

 Given the time - sensitive nature of such bids , it is critical that all parties contribute to it in the specified   timeframe to allow time for proper reviews and refinement , which enable us to create a strong   proposition . One of the tools that a Bid Manager uses to track progress of a proposal is a Bid Tracker   which is a spreadsheet with the proposal sections , owners , contributors , reviewers , dates for drafts and   status . While this tool is effective in maintaining the status of the bid , in the case of large / complex bids ,   the spreadsheet can become long and hence , difficult for the parties to navigate regularly and keep a   check on the bid timelines . This can lead to confusion among team members on the expected dates   and in turn lead to slippages in deadlines . 

 2   Selection : In your own words , briefly describe the tool you selected ( e.g. , what it is and   why you selected it for your challenge -- including any appropriate video lecture   references ) . 

 To address this challenge of shipping a high - quality proposal in time , the tool that I used was that of   Visualization . The idea was to make the key timelines and deadlines clear to team members   with diverse capabilities and actions so that they can effectively deliver to these timelines . These   team members have different challenges and time constraints . Hence , it is critical that the team   collectively understands and agrees to the timelines at the outset of the bid . 

 In the Visualization Tool lesson , Ms. Angela Myer had demonstrated a tool which helps communicate   complex problems to a diverse audience in a non - verbal manner . This is important here as the   team members have diverse constraints but need to visualize the bid as a whole , while defining the   timelines . Hence , a visual representation can elicit the interdependencies among team members and   help address these constraints collectively . Two other key points suggested by Ms. Myer which helped   me in this exercise were : 

 1 . Use of colors and symbols to make the image more intuitive for the participants , and 

 2 . Have a single image view of the overall bid , so that it is simple for the participants to understand , 

 agree to , and refer to in the future . 

 3   Application : Describe how you applied the tool you selected to your challenge ( e.g. , what   you did and how the tool was applied effectively or ineffectively ) . 

 To create a simple visual map of the overall bid , I started by creating the strawman of a chart with   dates as columns ( from the start date till the planned submission date ) and key sections of the bid   as rows ( solution , commercials , other artefacts ) . This map helps chart the timeline of the bid in one   image ( or in this case – a presentation slide ) . 

 In this map , based on my understanding of the bid timelines and expectations , I plotted key activities ,   milestones and review points in / across the cells . The view had colored swim lanes for the   activities and symbols for key delivery milestones ( response drafts , client / third party meetings , etc . ) 

    2 

 and reviews . This served as the starting point for a discussion with the team to achieve the following   objectives : 

 1 . Validate our collective understanding of the proposal timeline and customer expectations , 

 2 . Review and enhance the plan to account for interdependencies within the team and on external 

 parties , and 

 3 . Get an explicit commitment from all the team members on their respective deliverables , thereby 

 enabling their accountability on these deliverables . 

 4   Insight : Describe the insight you gained from applying the tool you selected to your   challenge ( e.g. , how an insight affected your thinking about the challenge and about   design thinking more broadly ) . 

 Through this exercise we were able to deliver the proposal well within the timeframe set by the   client . Having a strong yet simple visual plan for reference helped everyone , especially the members   who joined our team after the initial kickoff , keep a check on their deliverables and flag any areas   where the faced challenges or needed help . 

 The biggest takeaway for me from this exercise was the simplicity of the approach which helped   smoothen one of the most critical parts of a bid by aligning all the team members to a common goal .   While the detailed status of each deliverable was available in the spreadsheet tracker , this image was   something that the team referred to regularly to check whether we were on track to deliver the   proposal with the required reviews and revisions . The reader got a view of the timelines for their   deliverables as well as that of the overall bid , which also helped them better appreciate their   contribution to the bid . 

 5   Approach : Describe what you might do differently next time -- applying the same tool   you selected or a different one -- and the reason(s ) why . 

 When using this method initially , I had kept only the wireframe / strawman and had conducted a detailed   session with the team to fill in the details from scratch . While there was a healthy discussion and   collaboration in this session , we felt that it might have been better to have some content already   present in the wireframe before the session – as a ‘ draft zero ’ of the plan . 

 In my next bid , I drafted the complete plan , with activities , milestones , etc . ( as described above ) ,   based on my understanding and we used that as the base . This was a key departure from the original   method of starting with only a strawman . This ‘ tweak ’ acted a seed to give the team the opportunity to   focus on discussing and improving the plan , rather than building it from scratch . 


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:    1 

 1   Challenge : Describe your challenge , including all relevant information . 

 My role is that of a Bid Manager in a large information technology service provider . As a Bid Manager , I   am accountable for delivering proposals tailored to clients ’ requirements in a timely manner . This   process involves working with multiple teams within and outside our organization to create a winning   proposition for the client . Once an opportunity is identified , a Bid Manager needs to work with different   teams such as Sales , Delivery , Solution Competencies , Legal , Senior Leadership , Third Parties , etc . to   ensure that these stakeholders understand the requirements of the bid and contribute effectively in   their respective responsibility areas in the proposal . 

 Given the time - sensitive nature of such bids , it is critical that all parties contribute to it in the specified   timeframe to allow time for proper reviews and refinement , which enable us to create a strong   proposition . One of the tools that a Bid Manager uses to track progress of a proposal is a Bid Tracker   which is a spreadsheet with the proposal sections , owners , contributors , reviewers , dates for drafts and   status . While this tool is effective in maintaining the status of the bid , in the case of large / complex bids ,   the spreadsheet can become long and hence , difficult for the parties to navigate regularly and keep a   check on the bid timelines . This can lead to confusion among team members on the expected dates   and in turn lead to slippages in deadlines . 

 2   Selection : In your own words , briefly describe the tool you selected ( e.g. , what it is and   why you selected it for your challenge -- including any appropriate video lecture   references ) . 

 To address this challenge of shipping a high - quality proposal in time , the tool that I used was that of   Visualization . The idea was to make the key timelines and deadlines clear to team members   with diverse capabilities and actions so that they can effectively deliver to these timelines . These   team members have different challenges and time constraints . Hence , it is critical that the team   collectively understands and agrees to the timelines at the outset of the bid . 

 In the Visualization Tool lesson , Ms. Angela Myer had demonstrated a tool which helps communicate   complex problems to a diverse audience in a non - verbal manner . This is important here as the   team members have diverse constraints but need to visualize the bid as a whole , while defining the   timelines . Hence , a visual representation can elicit the interdependencies among team members and   help address these constraints collectively . Two other key points suggested by Ms. Myer which helped   me in this exercise were : 

 1 . Use of colors and symbols to make the image more intuitive for the participants , and 

 2 . Have a single image view of the overall bid , so that it is simple for the participants to understand , 

 agree to , and refer to in the future . 

 3   Application : Describe how you applied the tool you selected to your challenge ( e.g. , what   you did and how the tool was applied effectively or ineffectively ) . 

 To create a simple visual map of the overall bid , I started by creating the strawman of a chart with   dates as columns ( from the start date till the planned submission date ) and key sections of the bid   as rows ( solution , commercials , other artefacts ) . This map helps chart the timeline of the bid in one   image ( or in this case – a presentation slide ) . 

 In this map , based on my understanding of the bid timelines and expectations , I plotted key activities ,   milestones and review points in / across the cells . The view had colored swim lanes for the   activities and symbols for key delivery milestones ( response drafts , client / third party meetings , etc . ) 

    2 

 and reviews . This served as the starting point for a discussion with the team to achieve the following   objectives : 

 1 . Validate our collective understanding of the proposal timeline and customer expectations , 

 2 . Review and enhance the plan to account for interdependencies within the team and on external 

 parties , and 

 3 . Get an explicit commitment from all the team members on their respective deliverables , thereby 

 enabling their accountability on these deliverables . 

 4   Insight : Describe the insight you gained from applying the tool you selected to your   challenge ( e.g. , how an insight affected your thinking about the challenge and about   design thinking more broadly ) . 

 Through this exercise we were able to deliver the proposal well within the timeframe set by the   client . Having a strong yet simple visual plan for reference helped everyone , especially the members   who joined our team after the initial kickoff , keep a check on their deliverables and flag any areas   where the faced challenges or needed help . 

 The biggest takeaway for me from this exercise was the simplicity of the approach which helped   smoothen one of the most critical parts of a bid by aligning all the team members to a common goal .   While the detailed status of each deliverable was available in the spreadsheet tracker , this image was   something that the team referred to regularly to check whether we were on track to deliver the   proposal with the required reviews and revisions . The reader got a view of the timelines for their   deliverables as well as that of the overall bid , which also helped them better appreciate their   contribution to the bid . 

 5   Approach : Describe what you might do differently next time -- applying the same tool   you selected or a different one -- and the reason(s ) why . 

 When using this method initially , I had kept only the wireframe / strawman and had conducted a detailed   session with the team to fill in the details from scratch . While there was a healthy discussion and   collaboration in this session , we felt that it might have been better to have some content already   present in the wireframe before the session – as a ‘ draft zero ’ of the plan . 

 In my next bid , I drafted the complete plan , with activities , milestones , etc . ( as described above ) ,   based on my understanding and we used that as the base . This was a key departure from the original   method of starting with only a strawman . This ‘ tweak ’ acted a seed to give the team the opportunity to   focus on discussing and improving the plan , rather than building it from scratch .
### Output: 