Reflection – Visualisation 

 Challenge & Selection 

 The tool I used from the Design Thinking course was Visualisation . 

 I ’m a Product Manager working in a large corporate environment developing digital communication solutions   for small businesses . Many small businesses struggle in finding safe and secure ways to interact with their   customers online especially when it comes to sending sensitive documents . The main problems they encounter   include “ trust ” with current offerings and this is mainly around where their customer data is stored ( overseas or   onshore ) , “ security ” in knowing that the person they are sending this data to is in fact that person and “ cost ”   where physical channels used such as the current post system are expensive and present risk of lost items . 

 I was keen to utilise the visualisation tool when interviewing potential small businesses about the current   problems they are facing when sending important communications to customers . I anticipated that this would   assist me in digging deeper into their issues and problems but also in building rapport in a short space of time –   an important element when trying to start and develop a conversation with a potential small business when we   want them to become life - long customers of our business . I anticipated that being able to draw the flow of their   day - to - day operations would enable us to “ visualise ” what their business looked like today and what it could   look like tomorrow . 

 Application 

 I found that the initial meetings were very much an “ interview ” style where I would ask questions , they would   respond , and I would take notes . This did n’t really bode very well for creating an atmosphere of inclusion and   building rapport . Reviewing the material from Module 1 of the course , I thought about using visualisation as a   way to build the interaction between me and the small business owner . Visualisation is an important part of the   design thinking process and can be used through problem analysis , ideation , prototyping , and implementation   and feedback sessions . It ’s important as it allows all parties to see the world in the same way ( as opposed to   seeing the world differently when we use words only ) . 

 When applied effectively , the tool can enhance the process , but more importantly , induce a behavioural   response in small business owners that allows them to be involved in the experience . A number of times , we   sketched out the current way a small business owner would currently send really important documents to their   customers and they could n’t believe the number of steps they went through to send those communications . We   used pictures to convey this journey ( a printer to print the document , a person walking to a post office , a   postman delivering the communication ) . And this was only the current state of play ! When we started to map   out the desired journey or the “ What If ” journey , most of the small business owners would join me up at the   whiteboard and draw the pictures themselves . I found this to be really engaging and there was an implied belief   that we were both working to solve this problem together . 

 Insight 

 What I discovered was that visualisation , when used effectively , can be an amazing tool to see the world in a   different way and to build rapport with potential customers . The nice thing about visualisation is that there are   no boundaries to the process . I say this because it became quite apparent that although we were talking about   secure communications , another five or six opportunities opened up which came from the small business owner   drawing some pictures on a board ! I also believe that visualisation represents a freedom of expression for a lot   of people who are not used to it . This really helped to build rapport and start a conversation with those   customers – so much so that they are now our early adopters of our product and are happy to provide feedback   when they feel like giving it . 

 Approach 

 Given that we are at the beginning of our process , the visualisation tool was the appropriate tool to use to gather   insights around the “ What Is ” and “ What If ” processes . Other approaches we will use will be the mind - mapping   approach in order for us to analyse the data we currently have and to determine patterns that we can work with   to define the problem better and possibly start some ideation . 


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 – Visualisation 

 Challenge & Selection 

 The tool I used from the Design Thinking course was Visualisation . 

 I ’m a Product Manager working in a large corporate environment developing digital communication solutions   for small businesses . Many small businesses struggle in finding safe and secure ways to interact with their   customers online especially when it comes to sending sensitive documents . The main problems they encounter   include “ trust ” with current offerings and this is mainly around where their customer data is stored ( overseas or   onshore ) , “ security ” in knowing that the person they are sending this data to is in fact that person and “ cost ”   where physical channels used such as the current post system are expensive and present risk of lost items . 

 I was keen to utilise the visualisation tool when interviewing potential small businesses about the current   problems they are facing when sending important communications to customers . I anticipated that this would   assist me in digging deeper into their issues and problems but also in building rapport in a short space of time –   an important element when trying to start and develop a conversation with a potential small business when we   want them to become life - long customers of our business . I anticipated that being able to draw the flow of their   day - to - day operations would enable us to “ visualise ” what their business looked like today and what it could   look like tomorrow . 

 Application 

 I found that the initial meetings were very much an “ interview ” style where I would ask questions , they would   respond , and I would take notes . This did n’t really bode very well for creating an atmosphere of inclusion and   building rapport . Reviewing the material from Module 1 of the course , I thought about using visualisation as a   way to build the interaction between me and the small business owner . Visualisation is an important part of the   design thinking process and can be used through problem analysis , ideation , prototyping , and implementation   and feedback sessions . It ’s important as it allows all parties to see the world in the same way ( as opposed to   seeing the world differently when we use words only ) . 

 When applied effectively , the tool can enhance the process , but more importantly , induce a behavioural   response in small business owners that allows them to be involved in the experience . A number of times , we   sketched out the current way a small business owner would currently send really important documents to their   customers and they could n’t believe the number of steps they went through to send those communications . We   used pictures to convey this journey ( a printer to print the document , a person walking to a post office , a   postman delivering the communication ) . And this was only the current state of play ! When we started to map   out the desired journey or the “ What If ” journey , most of the small business owners would join me up at the   whiteboard and draw the pictures themselves . I found this to be really engaging and there was an implied belief   that we were both working to solve this problem together . 

 Insight 

 What I discovered was that visualisation , when used effectively , can be an amazing tool to see the world in a   different way and to build rapport with potential customers . The nice thing about visualisation is that there are   no boundaries to the process . I say this because it became quite apparent that although we were talking about   secure communications , another five or six opportunities opened up which came from the small business owner   drawing some pictures on a board ! I also believe that visualisation represents a freedom of expression for a lot   of people who are not used to it . This really helped to build rapport and start a conversation with those   customers – so much so that they are now our early adopters of our product and are happy to provide feedback   when they feel like giving it . 

 Approach 

 Given that we are at the beginning of our process , the visualisation tool was the appropriate tool to use to gather   insights around the “ What Is ” and “ What If ” processes . Other approaches we will use will be the mind - mapping   approach in order for us to analyse the data we currently have and to determine patterns that we can work with   to define the problem better and possibly start some ideation .
### Output: 