Final Assignment – Design Thinking for Innovation 

 By Katie Wakefield 

 Visualization Tool 

 Challenge 

 We are currently faced with the challenge of shifting the way we do projects within our organization as we   stand up a new digital strategy . Some background information : we are one of the country ’s largest energy   producers and have been going through a transformation over the past 5 years . Since our current CEO took the   helm , we have gone from a very favourable economic situation , working to streamline some of our value chains   and identify opportunities for standardization , to one of the worst economic downturns in the past 20 years .   Along with the downturn , our focus has shifted from production growth at any cost to a sustainability mindset .   We realize that we can be part of the solution as the world has turned its attention to reducing GHG emissions ,   reducing our carbon footprint and becoming more aware of how the products we use daily are manufactured ,   distributed and disposed of . 

 As the technology leaders for the company , we have recently combined business process management with   innovation and solution design to develop projects in a more responsible and planful manner . We have a   project management methodology that has been adopted from our major projects group , with the mindset   that we can apply the governance , rigour and oversight that has helped control capital and operating   expenditures of our large scale developments to new technology projects . The challenge is really to shift how   our group approaches design and development right from the beginning of a project , rather than   fundamentally changing the activities of our experts – the what . The problem statement could be : How do we   apply the principles of design thinking to our existing project management methodology while maintaining our   standards of portfolio management ? 

 Selection 

 While exploring how we would shift to a more innovative business model we used visualization techniques . We   frequently use the whiteboards in our boardrooms to share thoughts and ideas , and in the workshops we   explored both current and future state models , including identifying various stakeholders . While we have pages   of existing documents written to describe the processes and procedures of our current methodology , we all felt   the need to see how to combine all of the activities , with the people involved and layer in other information   such as budgeting , RASCI and key milestones . 

 Application 

 We began work shops with four senior level directors from different areas of the Information & Process   Management function . As we discussed our current state and the challenges we were facing in delivering   projects through the gated review process , I documented the discussion on the whiteboard , taking photos at   the end of each work shop and then sending out a slide deck that included a written summary and the original   photos . We met weekly for four weeks before deciding to include some “ disruptors ” in our discussions . We   brought in management level employees to participate in the discussion . We sought out both those whose   view point was aligned with our modus operandi , to create change in project delivery by streamlining the   necessary artifacts and by establishing a different way of approaching technology opportunities , as well as   those we knew would oppose , or challenge , the proposed changes . 

 As a result of sharing information visually we were able to arrive at a consensus more quickly and clearly than   through discussion alone . We shared insights ; each director brought a different perspective to the conversation 

 and each participant was better able to share the lens through which they approach each project , based on   their area of expertise and experience . This tool allowed us to shift the conversation from project deliverables   or artifact driven activities , which may not add value or provide the information required to make a decision on   the future of the project , to aligning ourselves to the desired outcomes we are seeking at each stage of the   project . 

 Insight and Approach 

 Visualization is not a new tool to me , having spent the past 5 years facilitating workshops and instructing I find   it ’s a very useful tool to have in my tool belt ! I ’m also a visual - kinesthetic learner so I appreciate visuals as a   tool for communication . The insight I have gained through this activity is that not everyone uses visualization   as a means of communicating an idea , especially in an area of the business that is driven by digitization and   technology . This quote from Angela Meyer in her Week 1 video on Visualization Tool resonated with me : 

 It 's really , it 's really important to be able to understand the way that you communicate to people . The primary tools   for , for thinking visually are really just mastering some basic elements of imagining people , spaces , situations and   actions or movements . It 's very easy to create a simple diagram , and most anyone can draw a stick figure , an arrow ,   a circle , a square . Those are the basic building blocks of creating a visualization . 

 What I have learned is that my “ space to play ” within the tech world ( which is relatively new to me ) is the   meeting point between humans and technology . As we develop the design thinking capability within our   organization I will look to challenge my colleagues to use visualization and take it further than simple   whiteboard graphs and collections of words . I look forward to developing this capability for myself and then   further demonstrating visualization techniques as we explore the “ What is ” and “ What if ” questions of design   thinking . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: Katie Wakefield
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: Final Assignment – Design Thinking for Innovation 

 By Katie Wakefield 

 Visualization Tool 

 Challenge 

 We are currently faced with the challenge of shifting the way we do projects within our organization as we   stand up a new digital strategy . Some background information : we are one of the country ’s largest energy   producers and have been going through a transformation over the past 5 years . Since our current CEO took the   helm , we have gone from a very favourable economic situation , working to streamline some of our value chains   and identify opportunities for standardization , to one of the worst economic downturns in the past 20 years .   Along with the downturn , our focus has shifted from production growth at any cost to a sustainability mindset .   We realize that we can be part of the solution as the world has turned its attention to reducing GHG emissions ,   reducing our carbon footprint and becoming more aware of how the products we use daily are manufactured ,   distributed and disposed of . 

 As the technology leaders for the company , we have recently combined business process management with   innovation and solution design to develop projects in a more responsible and planful manner . We have a   project management methodology that has been adopted from our major projects group , with the mindset   that we can apply the governance , rigour and oversight that has helped control capital and operating   expenditures of our large scale developments to new technology projects . The challenge is really to shift how   our group approaches design and development right from the beginning of a project , rather than   fundamentally changing the activities of our experts – the what . The problem statement could be : How do we   apply the principles of design thinking to our existing project management methodology while maintaining our   standards of portfolio management ? 

 Selection 

 While exploring how we would shift to a more innovative business model we used visualization techniques . We   frequently use the whiteboards in our boardrooms to share thoughts and ideas , and in the workshops we   explored both current and future state models , including identifying various stakeholders . While we have pages   of existing documents written to describe the processes and procedures of our current methodology , we all felt   the need to see how to combine all of the activities , with the people involved and layer in other information   such as budgeting , RASCI and key milestones . 

 Application 

 We began work shops with four senior level directors from different areas of the Information & Process   Management function . As we discussed our current state and the challenges we were facing in delivering   projects through the gated review process , I documented the discussion on the whiteboard , taking photos at   the end of each work shop and then sending out a slide deck that included a written summary and the original   photos . We met weekly for four weeks before deciding to include some “ disruptors ” in our discussions . We   brought in management level employees to participate in the discussion . We sought out both those whose   view point was aligned with our modus operandi , to create change in project delivery by streamlining the   necessary artifacts and by establishing a different way of approaching technology opportunities , as well as   those we knew would oppose , or challenge , the proposed changes . 

 As a result of sharing information visually we were able to arrive at a consensus more quickly and clearly than   through discussion alone . We shared insights ; each director brought a different perspective to the conversation 

 and each participant was better able to share the lens through which they approach each project , based on   their area of expertise and experience . This tool allowed us to shift the conversation from project deliverables   or artifact driven activities , which may not add value or provide the information required to make a decision on   the future of the project , to aligning ourselves to the desired outcomes we are seeking at each stage of the   project . 

 Insight and Approach 

 Visualization is not a new tool to me , having spent the past 5 years facilitating workshops and instructing I find   it ’s a very useful tool to have in my tool belt ! I ’m also a visual - kinesthetic learner so I appreciate visuals as a   tool for communication . The insight I have gained through this activity is that not everyone uses visualization   as a means of communicating an idea , especially in an area of the business that is driven by digitization and   technology . This quote from Angela Meyer in her Week 1 video on Visualization Tool resonated with me : 

 It 's really , it 's really important to be able to understand the way that you communicate to people . The primary tools   for , for thinking visually are really just mastering some basic elements of imagining people , spaces , situations and   actions or movements . It 's very easy to create a simple diagram , and most anyone can draw a stick figure , an arrow ,   a circle , a square . Those are the basic building blocks of creating a visualization . 

 What I have learned is that my “ space to play ” within the tech world ( which is relatively new to me ) is the   meeting point between humans and technology . As we develop the design thinking capability within our   organization I will look to challenge my colleagues to use visualization and take it further than simple   whiteboard graphs and collections of words . I look forward to developing this capability for myself and then   further demonstrating visualization techniques as we explore the “ What is ” and “ What if ” questions of design   thinking .
### Output: 