Coursera course “ Design Thinking for Innovation ” by University of Virginia . 

 Submission for peer - graded assignment . Done on 1 March 2020 . 

 Reflections on design thinking tool visualization 

 Challenge 

 Seeing is believing or a picture speaks a thousand words . Those common sayings   are also true in a business context . I ’m working in a change team in a global bank   and I know , visualizing is key to help stakeholders understand a problem and also   help the to be able to create possible solutions . 

 Projects that we conduct may be about how to improve processes like how to   onboard new clients faster to the bank . During such projects , we face the following   challenges : 1 ) The current state of the process must be described by the involved   persons and written down in a form everyone understands it ; 2 ) current shortcomings   of the process including pain points must be identified and 3 ) the client needs and   how he or she experiences the process must be clear to everyone so that the group   can think of an ideal future way how the onboarding process can be simplified . 

 Selection 

 Visualization has been proven to be an effective tool for us in the design of new and   improved processes . We found that a visualization of the current process on the wall   is the right method to understand the current process , discuss shortcomings and   pain points and also lead discussions how the ideal future state process might look   like . 

 Application 

 It ’s important that we first understand the current state . With “ we ” I ’m not only   referring to the change team but also to everybody involved in the process .   Everybody should know what they are actually doing . Conducting a workshop with all   parties involved , where we walk through an example client onboarding is an efficient   approach . We book a large meeting room where we can use the walls as drawing   boards and canvas . If needed , we stick brown paper on the walls , so we can draw   directly on it . We make sure , we find an appropriate slot where representatives of all   the involved parties have time and we invite them to a workshop . 

 During the workshop we then take a concrete onboarding example and the persons   in the room explain what they ’re doing during this process . On the go , we would then   stick pictures of the involved persons ( client , branch manager , etc . ) on the wall . Also   the required documents during the onboarding ( like account opening forms ) will be   represented by sticky notes . 

 By looking at this visualization on the wall people can relate to their everyday   situation . They will remember problems and pain points that led to suboptimal 

 onboarding experiences for the clients . Those points will also be added to the   visualization . When workshop participants are explaining a concrete situation , they   can show it directly on the picture , where the difficulties occurred . This makes it   easier for everybody to follow . By moving sticky notes that represent documents or   approver flows , complications in the process are shown and understood by   everyone . 

 This hands - on visualization will also trigger new ideas how the process can be   simplified . By directly removing unneeded steps , the workshop participants see , how   the new process looks like and also if there are further challenges involved . 

 Insight 

 In my personal experience I found that the following points are important : 

 • The right representation and expertise needs to be in the room : Participants 

 need to have enough expertise to contribute to the current state process . It ’s   also important , that everyone has time and the freedom to speak up . It   should n’t be that junior members are afraid to share their ideas just because   more senior members are blocking those thoughts . 

 • The host of the workshop needs to ensure that the group stays focussed . The 

 client views and needs must be the driving force . Other topics that are not   relevant for the current discussion should be assigned to a parking lot . 

 • The more hands - on the workshop and the visualization is , the better . From my 

 experience it ’s also recommended to bring the visualization on the wall into a   format that can be used later . This can be done by drawing it on a sheet of   paper and scanning it so it can be shared with everyone after the workshop . 

 Approach 

 Beside conducting such workshops where we visualize processes , we also tested   other approaches . Conducting interviews just with one person at the time is an   approach that gives more insights for a detailed aspect . In contrast , missing on the   collective wisdom of the whole workshop group and by not visualizing the process ,   can lead to missing links when we try to understand the process end - to - end . Also the   solution finding works better when more persons are involved and can relate to a   visual representation of the complete process . 

 A less successful way is also just to ask senior managers or so called experts who   are designing a process top - down . This will just give a theoretical view of the   situation and an unusable approach . It ’s immanent that people who know the   situation on the ground are involved in the process design . 

 Conclusion 

 In my experience in a change team in a global bank , I achieved very good results by   applying the design thinking tool visualization in my workshops . This allowed me to   lead discussions how a future process should look like in order to deliver value for   the clients . 


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: Coursera course “ Design Thinking for Innovation ” by University of Virginia . 

 Submission for peer - graded assignment . Done on 1 March 2020 . 

 Reflections on design thinking tool visualization 

 Challenge 

 Seeing is believing or a picture speaks a thousand words . Those common sayings   are also true in a business context . I ’m working in a change team in a global bank   and I know , visualizing is key to help stakeholders understand a problem and also   help the to be able to create possible solutions . 

 Projects that we conduct may be about how to improve processes like how to   onboard new clients faster to the bank . During such projects , we face the following   challenges : 1 ) The current state of the process must be described by the involved   persons and written down in a form everyone understands it ; 2 ) current shortcomings   of the process including pain points must be identified and 3 ) the client needs and   how he or she experiences the process must be clear to everyone so that the group   can think of an ideal future way how the onboarding process can be simplified . 

 Selection 

 Visualization has been proven to be an effective tool for us in the design of new and   improved processes . We found that a visualization of the current process on the wall   is the right method to understand the current process , discuss shortcomings and   pain points and also lead discussions how the ideal future state process might look   like . 

 Application 

 It ’s important that we first understand the current state . With “ we ” I ’m not only   referring to the change team but also to everybody involved in the process .   Everybody should know what they are actually doing . Conducting a workshop with all   parties involved , where we walk through an example client onboarding is an efficient   approach . We book a large meeting room where we can use the walls as drawing   boards and canvas . If needed , we stick brown paper on the walls , so we can draw   directly on it . We make sure , we find an appropriate slot where representatives of all   the involved parties have time and we invite them to a workshop . 

 During the workshop we then take a concrete onboarding example and the persons   in the room explain what they ’re doing during this process . On the go , we would then   stick pictures of the involved persons ( client , branch manager , etc . ) on the wall . Also   the required documents during the onboarding ( like account opening forms ) will be   represented by sticky notes . 

 By looking at this visualization on the wall people can relate to their everyday   situation . They will remember problems and pain points that led to suboptimal 

 onboarding experiences for the clients . Those points will also be added to the   visualization . When workshop participants are explaining a concrete situation , they   can show it directly on the picture , where the difficulties occurred . This makes it   easier for everybody to follow . By moving sticky notes that represent documents or   approver flows , complications in the process are shown and understood by   everyone . 

 This hands - on visualization will also trigger new ideas how the process can be   simplified . By directly removing unneeded steps , the workshop participants see , how   the new process looks like and also if there are further challenges involved . 

 Insight 

 In my personal experience I found that the following points are important : 

 • The right representation and expertise needs to be in the room : Participants 

 need to have enough expertise to contribute to the current state process . It ’s   also important , that everyone has time and the freedom to speak up . It   should n’t be that junior members are afraid to share their ideas just because   more senior members are blocking those thoughts . 

 • The host of the workshop needs to ensure that the group stays focussed . The 

 client views and needs must be the driving force . Other topics that are not   relevant for the current discussion should be assigned to a parking lot . 

 • The more hands - on the workshop and the visualization is , the better . From my 

 experience it ’s also recommended to bring the visualization on the wall into a   format that can be used later . This can be done by drawing it on a sheet of   paper and scanning it so it can be shared with everyone after the workshop . 

 Approach 

 Beside conducting such workshops where we visualize processes , we also tested   other approaches . Conducting interviews just with one person at the time is an   approach that gives more insights for a detailed aspect . In contrast , missing on the   collective wisdom of the whole workshop group and by not visualizing the process ,   can lead to missing links when we try to understand the process end - to - end . Also the   solution finding works better when more persons are involved and can relate to a   visual representation of the complete process . 

 A less successful way is also just to ask senior managers or so called experts who   are designing a process top - down . This will just give a theoretical view of the   situation and an unusable approach . It ’s immanent that people who know the   situation on the ground are involved in the process design . 

 Conclusion 

 In my experience in a change team in a global bank , I achieved very good results by   applying the design thinking tool visualization in my workshops . This allowed me to   lead discussions how a future process should look like in order to deliver value for   the clients .
### Output: 