Design Thinking Tools Reflection – Visualization 

 Challenge & Selection 

 The challenge consisted of successfully conducting a productivity workshop covering a process chain in   supply chain operations . Invited to the workshop were the department head , several managers , a   supervisor , 4 ground level staff operators and an assistant for taking notes and summarizing agreed   action items . The workshop was run by a process improvement specialist . 

 All participants fulfill different roles and functions within the organization and therefore have very different   points of view as well as assumptions and expectations on where the “ pain areas ” were located along the   value chain . In order to provide a common understanding and underlying common subject matter for all   stakeholders we chose to map out the existing process and value chain and therefore chose visualization   as a tool during the workshop . Once the process was visualized everyone was clear about which process   or sub - process in the chain we were talking about which avoided confusion or lengthy discussions and   explanations . 

 Application 

 We started the process as a team by going through the process chain step by step . At first we defined the   start and end point of the process we were trying to improve . In between the start and end point we   mapped out each individual sub - step in detail and everything was put up on a wall for everyone to see .   Once all process steps were mapped out each individual team member was asked to write down on post- it notes the individual “ pain points ” pertaining to a particular step in the chain . These were individual steps   that from their point of view were not conducted in an ideal fashion and wasteful . The post - it notes were   then put up on the wall as well and pinned to the appropriate step of the chain . This part of the exercise   was done individually and in quiet so to avoid louder or more authoritative participants to overpower   quieter participants . The goal was to have everyone ’s opinion up on the wall . 

 Insight & Approach 

 Through applying the visualization technique it was very easy to see as a result that the perceived pain   areas all concentrated around a particular set of process steps . This meant that very quickly the   workshop group was able to move on and focus on these specific items without much discussion or   argument . It also enabled team members who were not very familiar with the pain areas to quickly learn   more about the issues that the other contributors were facing in that area . As a next step mind   brainstorming and mind mapping was used as a technique to identify practical solutions to the pain points   defined earlier . The visualization technique definitely helped to facilitate a focused team effort and will   definitely be used again for the next workshop . 


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: Design Thinking Tools Reflection – Visualization 

 Challenge & Selection 

 The challenge consisted of successfully conducting a productivity workshop covering a process chain in   supply chain operations . Invited to the workshop were the department head , several managers , a   supervisor , 4 ground level staff operators and an assistant for taking notes and summarizing agreed   action items . The workshop was run by a process improvement specialist . 

 All participants fulfill different roles and functions within the organization and therefore have very different   points of view as well as assumptions and expectations on where the “ pain areas ” were located along the   value chain . In order to provide a common understanding and underlying common subject matter for all   stakeholders we chose to map out the existing process and value chain and therefore chose visualization   as a tool during the workshop . Once the process was visualized everyone was clear about which process   or sub - process in the chain we were talking about which avoided confusion or lengthy discussions and   explanations . 

 Application 

 We started the process as a team by going through the process chain step by step . At first we defined the   start and end point of the process we were trying to improve . In between the start and end point we   mapped out each individual sub - step in detail and everything was put up on a wall for everyone to see .   Once all process steps were mapped out each individual team member was asked to write down on post- it notes the individual “ pain points ” pertaining to a particular step in the chain . These were individual steps   that from their point of view were not conducted in an ideal fashion and wasteful . The post - it notes were   then put up on the wall as well and pinned to the appropriate step of the chain . This part of the exercise   was done individually and in quiet so to avoid louder or more authoritative participants to overpower   quieter participants . The goal was to have everyone ’s opinion up on the wall . 

 Insight & Approach 

 Through applying the visualization technique it was very easy to see as a result that the perceived pain   areas all concentrated around a particular set of process steps . This meant that very quickly the   workshop group was able to move on and focus on these specific items without much discussion or   argument . It also enabled team members who were not very familiar with the pain areas to quickly learn   more about the issues that the other contributors were facing in that area . As a next step mind   brainstorming and mind mapping was used as a technique to identify practical solutions to the pain points   defined earlier . The visualization technique definitely helped to facilitate a focused team effort and will   definitely be used again for the next workshop .
### Output: 