Reflection – Making Rich Pictures 

 Challenge     I was invited to facilitate a half - day workshop on disaster management . The workshop   aimed to highlight some of the critical challenges in disaster response and come up with   some ideas to deal with these challenges . The 12 workshop participants included people   from various emergency service agencies and elected officials from different local   government organizations .      Selection     I used a visual thinking tool called “ making rich pictures ” to surface different worldviews   around disaster management . This tool is part of an approach called soft - systems   methodology ( SSM ) used to tackle messy real - life situations .     SSM is an action - oriented approach to inquiry used by researchers and practitioners to   explore alternative solutions to wicked problematical situations . It is used to organize   thinking about perceived problematical ( social ) situations so that action to bring about   improvement can be taken ( Checkland and Poulter 2006 ) .     Application     The problematical situation was poor coordination between different disaster response   agencies . I used rich pictures to draw attention to how participants from various agencies   perceived the problematical situation .     Workshop participants were randomly split into three groups of four people . Each group   had 30 minutes in which to draw a rich picture describing their worldview of the   problematical situation in terms of social dynamics and resource flows . Group members   could work individually or together to produce their rich picture . Nobody was allowed to   write any words on their rich picture . After the 30 minutes were up , each group was given   10 minutes to reflect on their collective effort . One member was nominated to explain their   drawing to the other workshop participants . From the ensuing discussion , one could identify   different human activity systems and see how these related to the problematical situation .   This information was captured as notes onto a flip chart . After each group had described   their picture , we worked together to pick out common themes and prioritized these .   Untimely and poorly targeted communication was highlighted as a major issue in effective   coordination of disaster response .     Each group was then asked to draw a second picture that depicted an ideal future scenario .   Again , the groups were given 10 minutes to reflect on their image . From the ensuing   discussion , one could see how different human activity systems could work together   optimally . We compared and contrasted the information provided by the problematical and   idealized situations and identified possible changes / improvements . 

 Workshop participants took photographs of both the rich pictures and flip chart notes to   take back to their respective agencies for further discussion . 

 Insight     Participants were initially uncomfortable with the idea of drawing rich pictures . They   doubted their drawing ability . I asked the participants to trust the process and said the aim   was not to produce a work of art but to gain insights into a wicked problematical situation .   Once people started to draw , the focus of attention shifted from themselves to the piece of   paper , and soon everyone was having fun . I find egos tend to get in the way when discussing   complex situations . People often talk over one another or fail to listen to what others are   saying . Egos seem to disappear when people work together on their drawing . The need for   active listening becomes less critical when drawing rich pictures .     Making rich pictures lets the facilitator stand back and allow ideas to emerge in a more   spontaneous and meaningful way . People drawing rich pictures control the process , which is   very empowering . They own what they draw and are more invested in addressing the   problematical situation .     Some of the workshop participants indicated they would use rich pictures to tackle other   problematical situations in their agencies , which was deeply satisfying for me .   Although   SSM predates design thinking , design thinkers would be well advised to learn how SSM can   help their thinking processes .     Approach     I would have loved to take what we learnt from making rich pictures to the next level by   applying all the other elements of the SSM approach . Unfortunately , one can only achieve   so much in a half - day workshop .      What I would do differently next time is explain the SSM approach more fully so that   participants can see how making rich pictures contributes to the problem - solving process .   This would include providing a brief handout on the SSM approach and how it relates to   design thinking more generally .     References     Checkland , P. , & Poulter , J. ( 2006 ) . Learning for action : a short definitive account of soft   systems methodology and its use for practitioner , teachers , and students ( Vol . 26 ) .   Chichester : Wiley . 


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 – Making Rich Pictures 

 Challenge     I was invited to facilitate a half - day workshop on disaster management . The workshop   aimed to highlight some of the critical challenges in disaster response and come up with   some ideas to deal with these challenges . The 12 workshop participants included people   from various emergency service agencies and elected officials from different local   government organizations .      Selection     I used a visual thinking tool called “ making rich pictures ” to surface different worldviews   around disaster management . This tool is part of an approach called soft - systems   methodology ( SSM ) used to tackle messy real - life situations .     SSM is an action - oriented approach to inquiry used by researchers and practitioners to   explore alternative solutions to wicked problematical situations . It is used to organize   thinking about perceived problematical ( social ) situations so that action to bring about   improvement can be taken ( Checkland and Poulter 2006 ) .     Application     The problematical situation was poor coordination between different disaster response   agencies . I used rich pictures to draw attention to how participants from various agencies   perceived the problematical situation .     Workshop participants were randomly split into three groups of four people . Each group   had 30 minutes in which to draw a rich picture describing their worldview of the   problematical situation in terms of social dynamics and resource flows . Group members   could work individually or together to produce their rich picture . Nobody was allowed to   write any words on their rich picture . After the 30 minutes were up , each group was given   10 minutes to reflect on their collective effort . One member was nominated to explain their   drawing to the other workshop participants . From the ensuing discussion , one could identify   different human activity systems and see how these related to the problematical situation .   This information was captured as notes onto a flip chart . After each group had described   their picture , we worked together to pick out common themes and prioritized these .   Untimely and poorly targeted communication was highlighted as a major issue in effective   coordination of disaster response .     Each group was then asked to draw a second picture that depicted an ideal future scenario .   Again , the groups were given 10 minutes to reflect on their image . From the ensuing   discussion , one could see how different human activity systems could work together   optimally . We compared and contrasted the information provided by the problematical and   idealized situations and identified possible changes / improvements . 

 Workshop participants took photographs of both the rich pictures and flip chart notes to   take back to their respective agencies for further discussion . 

 Insight     Participants were initially uncomfortable with the idea of drawing rich pictures . They   doubted their drawing ability . I asked the participants to trust the process and said the aim   was not to produce a work of art but to gain insights into a wicked problematical situation .   Once people started to draw , the focus of attention shifted from themselves to the piece of   paper , and soon everyone was having fun . I find egos tend to get in the way when discussing   complex situations . People often talk over one another or fail to listen to what others are   saying . Egos seem to disappear when people work together on their drawing . The need for   active listening becomes less critical when drawing rich pictures .     Making rich pictures lets the facilitator stand back and allow ideas to emerge in a more   spontaneous and meaningful way . People drawing rich pictures control the process , which is   very empowering . They own what they draw and are more invested in addressing the   problematical situation .     Some of the workshop participants indicated they would use rich pictures to tackle other   problematical situations in their agencies , which was deeply satisfying for me .   Although   SSM predates design thinking , design thinkers would be well advised to learn how SSM can   help their thinking processes .     Approach     I would have loved to take what we learnt from making rich pictures to the next level by   applying all the other elements of the SSM approach . Unfortunately , one can only achieve   so much in a half - day workshop .      What I would do differently next time is explain the SSM approach more fully so that   participants can see how making rich pictures contributes to the problem - solving process .   This would include providing a brief handout on the SSM approach and how it relates to   design thinking more generally .     References     Checkland , P. , & Poulter , J. ( 2006 ) . Learning for action : a short definitive account of soft   systems methodology and its use for practitioner , teachers , and students ( Vol . 26 ) .   Chichester : Wiley .
### Output: 