Juana Taylor 

 Design Thinking for Innovation : June 7 , 2020 

 Reflection : Visualization through Journey Mapping 

 Challenge 

 The design thinking tool that has been essential in driving innovation in my firm has been 

 Visualization though the use of Journey Mapping . Currently , I am supporting a Federal client within my   firm to assist with digitizing immigration benefits and improving the overall adjudication process for   those applying for citizenship . Currently , the adjudication process for citizenship has a multitude of   inefficiencies , from lengthy wait times ranging from 6 months to over a year to a large backlog of cases   for immigration service officers to parse through manually . Throughout the lifecycle of filing for   immigration benefits , there are opportunities to automate and modernize the existing adjudication   process . 

 Currently , I am spearheading an innovation initiative across my project in which I have tasked 

 team members to uncover a problem that our Federal client is facing , identify an opportunity that exists   for the team to provide value to the client , and prototype concepts yielding high value to the client .   Therefore , I recommended that all team members use journey mapping , a specific visualization tool , to   start this effort in order to understand the audience , outline the sequence of events , and uncover   unanswered needs . This will ultimately define the job to be done and areas of opportunities to   modernize the immigration process . 

 Selection 

 Using a journey map , we began with defining the “ what is ” for this innovation initiative to 

 improve the inefficient areas of the adjudication process for citizenship .   The end result was a   visualization that described step - by - step how a user interacts with the adjudication process . The process   is mapped from the user perspective , describing what happens at each stage of the interaction , what   touchpoints are involved , and what obstacles and barriers they may encounter while applying for   benefits . Overall , this journey mapping technique both visualized and identified differentiated value   propositions and opportunities for the adjudication innovation initiative . 

 Application 

 We started this exercise by reaching out to various stakeholders who have visibility into the 

 adjudication process for those applying for citizenship . We discussed the tensions that exist for   challenges within the adjudication process . This entire practice allowed us to not only explore the   current reality but also formulate an accurate assessment of what is happening today and identify the   unarticulated needs . Our interviews yielded a storytelling tool where we can put the applicant and   corresponding experience front and center , and can take the listener along the applicant ’s journey to   attaining citizenship . 

 After gathering information on the adjudication process from these stakeholder interviews , we 

 summarized and visualized the lifecycle of the process into four categories : 1 ) arrival and sorting of   paper applications , 2 ) security and identity checks , 3 ) adjudicator reviews the application , 4 ) 

 Juana Taylor 

 Design Thinking for Innovation : June 7 , 2020 

 adjudication team conducts final review before sending decision . Within these milestones , we further   defined and mapped the steps that occurs within each , noting systemic dependencies and lengthy steps   due to manual , repetitive , and time - consuming tasks . This action created an overall map from the entire   applicant ’s journey to receiving immigration benefits that highlighted the overall challenges and   opportunities . 

 Insight 

 After mapping out the applicant ’s journey , we parsed through the dependencies and 

 inefficiencies at each individual step . The major insight from this analysis exposed that applicants face a   lengthy and complex process where the reviewers need to make sense of data inconsistencies in   applications , redundant steps , and process dependencies resulting in downtime . There is a significant   opportunity to relieve taxed adjudicators through automating the highly manual and repetitive tasks . 

 For the first category , arrival and sorting of paper applications , we noted an opportunity to 

 tackle a highly manual and logistics - oriented process involving inputting data into system databases . For   the second stage of security and identity checks , there is value in finding an efficient method to   aggregate data while finding inaccurate information through the lens of security , fraud , and name   variation checks . For the third milestone where the adjudicator reviews the application , we noted the   challenge in which the adjudicator repeats multiple application check steps ( e.g. security , fraud , and   name variation checks ) and aggregates and synthesizes application data . In the last period when the   adjudication team conducts final reviews before sending the decision to the applicants , this task is   wholly redundant based on the previous milestones . By creating this journey map , we were able to gain   an understanding for the stakeholders ' life , problems , and unarticulated needs and unravel the overall   adjudication process to identify challenges . The next step would include brainstorming possibilities to   address said challenges . 

 Approach 

 Aside from using the journey mapping exercise to outline the current reality , I would also 

 incorporate some projective techniques , such as open - ended ambiguous stimuli to attempt to uncover   hidden or deeper thoughts out of the stakeholders . Rather than guiding the conversation to understand   the overall steps that occur within the adjudication lifecycle , this additional technique would also have   provided an opportunity to take a step back and identify additional unarticulated needs within the   Federal agency . By employing both techniques , we would have had a thorough picture of the current   reality that can lead to concept development during the “ what if ” phase . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: Juana Taylor, Juana Taylor
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: Juana Taylor 

 Design Thinking for Innovation : June 7 , 2020 

 Reflection : Visualization through Journey Mapping 

 Challenge 

 The design thinking tool that has been essential in driving innovation in my firm has been 

 Visualization though the use of Journey Mapping . Currently , I am supporting a Federal client within my   firm to assist with digitizing immigration benefits and improving the overall adjudication process for   those applying for citizenship . Currently , the adjudication process for citizenship has a multitude of   inefficiencies , from lengthy wait times ranging from 6 months to over a year to a large backlog of cases   for immigration service officers to parse through manually . Throughout the lifecycle of filing for   immigration benefits , there are opportunities to automate and modernize the existing adjudication   process . 

 Currently , I am spearheading an innovation initiative across my project in which I have tasked 

 team members to uncover a problem that our Federal client is facing , identify an opportunity that exists   for the team to provide value to the client , and prototype concepts yielding high value to the client .   Therefore , I recommended that all team members use journey mapping , a specific visualization tool , to   start this effort in order to understand the audience , outline the sequence of events , and uncover   unanswered needs . This will ultimately define the job to be done and areas of opportunities to   modernize the immigration process . 

 Selection 

 Using a journey map , we began with defining the “ what is ” for this innovation initiative to 

 improve the inefficient areas of the adjudication process for citizenship .   The end result was a   visualization that described step - by - step how a user interacts with the adjudication process . The process   is mapped from the user perspective , describing what happens at each stage of the interaction , what   touchpoints are involved , and what obstacles and barriers they may encounter while applying for   benefits . Overall , this journey mapping technique both visualized and identified differentiated value   propositions and opportunities for the adjudication innovation initiative . 

 Application 

 We started this exercise by reaching out to various stakeholders who have visibility into the 

 adjudication process for those applying for citizenship . We discussed the tensions that exist for   challenges within the adjudication process . This entire practice allowed us to not only explore the   current reality but also formulate an accurate assessment of what is happening today and identify the   unarticulated needs . Our interviews yielded a storytelling tool where we can put the applicant and   corresponding experience front and center , and can take the listener along the applicant ’s journey to   attaining citizenship . 

 After gathering information on the adjudication process from these stakeholder interviews , we 

 summarized and visualized the lifecycle of the process into four categories : 1 ) arrival and sorting of   paper applications , 2 ) security and identity checks , 3 ) adjudicator reviews the application , 4 ) 

 Juana Taylor 

 Design Thinking for Innovation : June 7 , 2020 

 adjudication team conducts final review before sending decision . Within these milestones , we further   defined and mapped the steps that occurs within each , noting systemic dependencies and lengthy steps   due to manual , repetitive , and time - consuming tasks . This action created an overall map from the entire   applicant ’s journey to receiving immigration benefits that highlighted the overall challenges and   opportunities . 

 Insight 

 After mapping out the applicant ’s journey , we parsed through the dependencies and 

 inefficiencies at each individual step . The major insight from this analysis exposed that applicants face a   lengthy and complex process where the reviewers need to make sense of data inconsistencies in   applications , redundant steps , and process dependencies resulting in downtime . There is a significant   opportunity to relieve taxed adjudicators through automating the highly manual and repetitive tasks . 

 For the first category , arrival and sorting of paper applications , we noted an opportunity to 

 tackle a highly manual and logistics - oriented process involving inputting data into system databases . For   the second stage of security and identity checks , there is value in finding an efficient method to   aggregate data while finding inaccurate information through the lens of security , fraud , and name   variation checks . For the third milestone where the adjudicator reviews the application , we noted the   challenge in which the adjudicator repeats multiple application check steps ( e.g. security , fraud , and   name variation checks ) and aggregates and synthesizes application data . In the last period when the   adjudication team conducts final reviews before sending the decision to the applicants , this task is   wholly redundant based on the previous milestones . By creating this journey map , we were able to gain   an understanding for the stakeholders ' life , problems , and unarticulated needs and unravel the overall   adjudication process to identify challenges . The next step would include brainstorming possibilities to   address said challenges . 

 Approach 

 Aside from using the journey mapping exercise to outline the current reality , I would also 

 incorporate some projective techniques , such as open - ended ambiguous stimuli to attempt to uncover   hidden or deeper thoughts out of the stakeholders . Rather than guiding the conversation to understand   the overall steps that occur within the adjudication lifecycle , this additional technique would also have   provided an opportunity to take a step back and identify additional unarticulated needs within the   Federal agency . By employing both techniques , we would have had a thorough picture of the current   reality that can lead to concept development during the “ what if ” phase .
### Output: 