Mind Map 

 1 . Challenge : 

 I was leading a team of Software engineers where the team was responsible for enhancing   & maintaining a very complex Application catering to a leading Financial Services Customer . 

 Considering the complex nature of the application and given that application was built   incrementally over the decades , it was imperative that we need to not only have a very   robust Knowledge Management System in place but also to have a good adoption by all the   stakeholders to ensure high quality & timely enhancement or maintenance of the   application . 

 With the above stated objective , we invested in setting up a Knowledge Management   System and also conducted awareness sessions with the team members . 

 But , after 6 months of rolling out the Knowledge Management portal , we observed   following – 

 a ) The adoption or usage of the KM tool among the team members was very low   b ) And there were huge Quality issues in the Delivery due to lack of Knowledge 

 Hence , we set out to understand the Root Cause of Low Usage of Knowledge Management   Tool leading to low Quality of Delivery . 

 2 . Tool Selection : 

 For the challenge mentioned above , I zeroed down to one specific tool – Mindmapping . 

 What is Mindmapping   Mind mapping is simply the method for creating a visual map of your thoughts in mind .    Mind mapping is formalized by Tony Buzan .      A definition of mind mapping is : 

 “ Graphical technique for visualizing connections between several ideas or pieces of   information . Each idea or fact is written down and then linked by lines or curves to its   major or minor ( or following or previous ) idea or fact , thus creating a web of relationships ” 

 Another definition from the Mind Map book by Tony Buzan : 

 “ The Mind Map ® is an expression of Radiant Thinking and is therefore a natural function   of the human mind . It is a powerful graphic technique which provides a universal key to   unlocking the potential of the brain . The Mind Map can be applied to every aspect of life   where improved learning and clearer thinking will enhance human performance . The   Mind Map has four essential characteristics : 

 •   The subject of attention is crystallized in a central image . 

 •   The main themes of the subject radiate from the central image on branches . 

 •   Branches hold a key image / word printed on the associated line – details radiate   out . 

 •   The branches form a connected nodal structure . ” 

 Why I selected Mindmapping Tool for the mentioned challenge 

 I selected MIndmap tool for following reasons – 

 a ) Mind Map Structures large information 

 Mind maps can store and structure vast amounts of information . They display hierarchy ,   show relationships between individual ideas and enable you to see the “ big picture ” at a   glance . 

 b ) Mind Map enhances Productivity 

 Mind mapping enables you to learn faster , communicate more efficiently and brainstorm   more effectively . 

 c ) Mind Map improves memory & recall 

 Mind maps present information visually . They feature a number of powerful mental   triggers such as images , colors , shapes and connections which help our brain process   and memorize large amounts of information . 

 3 . Application : 

 We employed the following approach ( while applying the Mindmapping method ) 

 Pre - Setup Done 

 Huddled the team members from each Skill Centres ( who are expected to use KM Tool ) 

 Set up Empty Chart Papers on the walls of a Conference room and provided coloured   sketch pens to each participants 

 Requested each participant to use 1 Chart Paper each 

 Next , we requested each participant to depict their thought on how they perceive the   Knowledge Portal using Mind Mapping technique ( through following 4 steps ) 

 Step 1 – Each of them to Start in the middle of their respective Chart Paper by mentioning   the Central Idea which they first conjure of when thinking about Knowledge Management . 

 Step 2 – Next , they should mention / represent sub topics relevant to Knowledge managent 

 Step 3 – Add relevant details to each sub - topic wherever required ( and the information   could be in any form – Picture , text etc ) 

 Step 4 – Make connections to each of the Subtopics , representing the relationship between   the Central Idea & various sub - topics . 

 Step 5 – As the Final step , we requested each member to give a ranking to each subtopic   as per their assessment of the relative order of importance of the subtopics . 

 4 . Insight : 

 The key insight drawn from this exercise is following – 

 We were able to extract many key information on 

 a ) What is really expected by users from Knowledge Management Portal   b ) What is that missing from the current KM portal 

 And How Mind mapping helped us to gather or elicit required input – 

 a ) As each users were asked to develop their own Mind Map , they were not influenced 

 by other ’s view / opinion ( avoiding the pitfall of GroupThinking ) 

 b ) As each users were asked to express their opinion in free form format , they were 

 not hindered by their limitation of ‘ Language Expression ’ or ‘ Writing Skills ’ 

 And at the end , we applied the convergence of the outcome from the Brainstorming using   Mindmapping with the Design Thinking to come up with a precise definition of the Problem and   subsequent solution to the same ( keeping the end user at the centre of the whole exercise ) 

 5 . Approach : 

 As a team , we immensely benefitted from the whole exercise in terms of redefining the   Core Problem statement & devising a solution for the same ( while keeping the end user at   the centre of the whole exercise ) . 

 6 months after applying the necessary corrective actions identified through Design Thinking   ( using the mindmapping tool ) , we noticed significant increase in the adoption / usage of   the Knowledge Management Portal by the team which eventually resulted in lower Quality   issues in our Delivery . 


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: Mind Map 

 1 . Challenge : 

 I was leading a team of Software engineers where the team was responsible for enhancing   & maintaining a very complex Application catering to a leading Financial Services Customer . 

 Considering the complex nature of the application and given that application was built   incrementally over the decades , it was imperative that we need to not only have a very   robust Knowledge Management System in place but also to have a good adoption by all the   stakeholders to ensure high quality & timely enhancement or maintenance of the   application . 

 With the above stated objective , we invested in setting up a Knowledge Management   System and also conducted awareness sessions with the team members . 

 But , after 6 months of rolling out the Knowledge Management portal , we observed   following – 

 a ) The adoption or usage of the KM tool among the team members was very low   b ) And there were huge Quality issues in the Delivery due to lack of Knowledge 

 Hence , we set out to understand the Root Cause of Low Usage of Knowledge Management   Tool leading to low Quality of Delivery . 

 2 . Tool Selection : 

 For the challenge mentioned above , I zeroed down to one specific tool – Mindmapping . 

 What is Mindmapping   Mind mapping is simply the method for creating a visual map of your thoughts in mind .    Mind mapping is formalized by Tony Buzan .      A definition of mind mapping is : 

 “ Graphical technique for visualizing connections between several ideas or pieces of   information . Each idea or fact is written down and then linked by lines or curves to its   major or minor ( or following or previous ) idea or fact , thus creating a web of relationships ” 

 Another definition from the Mind Map book by Tony Buzan : 

 “ The Mind Map ® is an expression of Radiant Thinking and is therefore a natural function   of the human mind . It is a powerful graphic technique which provides a universal key to   unlocking the potential of the brain . The Mind Map can be applied to every aspect of life   where improved learning and clearer thinking will enhance human performance . The   Mind Map has four essential characteristics : 

 •   The subject of attention is crystallized in a central image . 

 •   The main themes of the subject radiate from the central image on branches . 

 •   Branches hold a key image / word printed on the associated line – details radiate   out . 

 •   The branches form a connected nodal structure . ” 

 Why I selected Mindmapping Tool for the mentioned challenge 

 I selected MIndmap tool for following reasons – 

 a ) Mind Map Structures large information 

 Mind maps can store and structure vast amounts of information . They display hierarchy ,   show relationships between individual ideas and enable you to see the “ big picture ” at a   glance . 

 b ) Mind Map enhances Productivity 

 Mind mapping enables you to learn faster , communicate more efficiently and brainstorm   more effectively . 

 c ) Mind Map improves memory & recall 

 Mind maps present information visually . They feature a number of powerful mental   triggers such as images , colors , shapes and connections which help our brain process   and memorize large amounts of information . 

 3 . Application : 

 We employed the following approach ( while applying the Mindmapping method ) 

 Pre - Setup Done 

 Huddled the team members from each Skill Centres ( who are expected to use KM Tool ) 

 Set up Empty Chart Papers on the walls of a Conference room and provided coloured   sketch pens to each participants 

 Requested each participant to use 1 Chart Paper each 

 Next , we requested each participant to depict their thought on how they perceive the   Knowledge Portal using Mind Mapping technique ( through following 4 steps ) 

 Step 1 – Each of them to Start in the middle of their respective Chart Paper by mentioning   the Central Idea which they first conjure of when thinking about Knowledge Management . 

 Step 2 – Next , they should mention / represent sub topics relevant to Knowledge managent 

 Step 3 – Add relevant details to each sub - topic wherever required ( and the information   could be in any form – Picture , text etc ) 

 Step 4 – Make connections to each of the Subtopics , representing the relationship between   the Central Idea & various sub - topics . 

 Step 5 – As the Final step , we requested each member to give a ranking to each subtopic   as per their assessment of the relative order of importance of the subtopics . 

 4 . Insight : 

 The key insight drawn from this exercise is following – 

 We were able to extract many key information on 

 a ) What is really expected by users from Knowledge Management Portal   b ) What is that missing from the current KM portal 

 And How Mind mapping helped us to gather or elicit required input – 

 a ) As each users were asked to develop their own Mind Map , they were not influenced 

 by other ’s view / opinion ( avoiding the pitfall of GroupThinking ) 

 b ) As each users were asked to express their opinion in free form format , they were 

 not hindered by their limitation of ‘ Language Expression ’ or ‘ Writing Skills ’ 

 And at the end , we applied the convergence of the outcome from the Brainstorming using   Mindmapping with the Design Thinking to come up with a precise definition of the Problem and   subsequent solution to the same ( keeping the end user at the centre of the whole exercise ) 

 5 . Approach : 

 As a team , we immensely benefitted from the whole exercise in terms of redefining the   Core Problem statement & devising a solution for the same ( while keeping the end user at   the centre of the whole exercise ) . 

 6 months after applying the necessary corrective actions identified through Design Thinking   ( using the mindmapping tool ) , we noticed significant increase in the adoption / usage of   the Knowledge Management Portal by the team which eventually resulted in lower Quality   issues in our Delivery .
### Output: 