Final Assignment – Design Thinking of Innovation- Maria Panagiotopoulou – Visualization 

 Challenge & selection 

 I   am a member of my organization ’s   customer experience department . The company   defined a challenge : to significantly improve the experience of the new customer ( the   customer who visits for the first time a branch of the organization 's network ) in order to   increase the market share and customer loyalty . In order to meet this challenge , a team of   12 members   was set up , involving executives from the Process Improvement Division , IT , HR   and other business departments . Since the challenge was wide , the team decided to apply   many of the principles and tools of design thinking for empathizing , such as observation in   branches , interviewing new customers & branch managers ,   identification & observation of   extreme/ analogous users - industries    & form insights ( discover what is ) . 

 The next step was to form and describe the insights , to conceptualize solutions   and ideate ,   to explore   IT solutions that can improve customer experience , optimize current procedures    and of course to create and test our prototypes(describe what if )   . The visualization tool   that we used in order to create and then test our prototypes was the storyboards .This tool   was very helpful to achieve a shared understanding of our ideas , to agree to the core   assumptions that we wanted to test with our customers - users and to have something   concrete to show to the customers when we would addressing to them in order to test the   prototype . I will describe in detail the procedure we followed using the visualization tool in   the application section below . 

 Application 

 We decided to do the prototyping actions related to the three of the ten insights we have   identified .   For the activity , the group divided into smaller groups of four participants each representing   an idea for prototyping action    In order to make concrete our ideas we decided that each group   to use a poster size   white   paper   to design   a storyboard in which the members could simply draw a high level story ,    which consisted of 4 to 6 pictures in order to describe the idea and the customer journey   related to that . The activity had to be completed within 10 minutes .   When the storyboards were ready each team presented the story to the members of the   other teams .Every member of the other team had to say 2 things that he liked in this story   and one that makes him wonder about something else , to write them   down in 3 post – it     and stick them to the relative picture .    For example in a storyboard of one team which described the story of   a new customer who   applied digitally through website for a financial service offered by the company , one   member of the other team said and wrote in post – it :   I like that the customer has the possibility for digital application anytime he prefers ,   I like   that he could avoid the queues in the branches in order to be serviced by an officer for his   application ( something that usually degrades the customer experience ) , I wonder if the   customer is not using digital ways in order to be serviced and prefers the human touch with   an employee .   Then every team had to take into consideration and maintain the feature which the other   teams liked and to find ways to redesign / clarify the features they have make some 

 Final Assignment – Design Thinking of Innovation- Maria Panagiotopoulou – Visualization 

 members to wonder and in a new poster size white paper to design   the new , refined   storyboard . This process had to be repeated two more times before we go with the final   storyboard to the customer / user to test our prototype .    When the final storyboard was ready , each team had first to decide to the core assumption   related to the prototype that was necessary to be tested .   Then every team needed to find a user and make an appointment with him to show him the   storyboard ( prototype ) and experiment - test it - get feedback from the   customer - user by   making him open questions in order not to direct his answers , to give him the chance by this   way to express himself about what he   thinks , feels , says , does about the story , what he   likes , dislikes or suggests   in order to improve about the idea .   After this procedure , every team had to take into account all the things that emerged   through this experiment and to design a new even more refined storyboard , which had to   test it with another user .     We agreed to repeat this test 5 times trying to evolve our ideas and then the team had a   workshop in order to discuss , present   the final storyboards of each team and decided which   ideas considered viable   & feasible to deal with in order to significantly improve the new   customer ’s experience . We managed to define what wows to the customer & what works .      Insight & Approach   What I have learned from conducting this exercise is   that the usage of a storyboard   – especially the final - refined storyboard that incorporates the feedback of the members of the   team & the customers feedback – is very significant for reinforcing the understanding of the   problem the group trying to solve .   But the aspect of the activity that has significant value is that the team during this process   shares insights and learning that emerge while they are trying to define the space of their   problem .   The storyboard gives the diverse group of members ,    a focal point for discussion which gives   them the opportunity to share their perspectives and develop insights into potential root   causes of their problems .   While the team could use a narrative to describe their ideas , and then after discussion to   rewrite and refine the narrative to describe the idea ,   by using visualization tools such as   storyboards , managed to engage the logical & the creative side of their brains ( and the   customers brain during the experiment ) . Unlike the narrative that can in each one 's mind   create different images , the usage of simple sketch can help make our ideas more   understandable to someone else , and allows ideas to be heart and built upon .   By using simple storyboards to design prototypes we have proven to the company that it is   not necessary to invest a lot of time and resources in order to design and run an experiment   in order to learn about aspects of our    ideas . We understood that by using simple   visualization tools like storyboards ,    we could conduct low risk experiments , at a minimal   cost with a safe audience , which are easy , quick to design & run and most important to be   generative and help the   teams to learn and grow the ideas . It think that it would be a good   idea next time to combine the storyboard with a simple role - play with the customer , in   order to have a more interactive and more vibrant experience during the experimentation . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: Maria Panagiotopoulou, Maria Panagiotopoulou
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 of Innovation- Maria Panagiotopoulou – Visualization 

 Challenge & selection 

 I   am a member of my organization ’s   customer experience department . The company   defined a challenge : to significantly improve the experience of the new customer ( the   customer who visits for the first time a branch of the organization 's network ) in order to   increase the market share and customer loyalty . In order to meet this challenge , a team of   12 members   was set up , involving executives from the Process Improvement Division , IT , HR   and other business departments . Since the challenge was wide , the team decided to apply   many of the principles and tools of design thinking for empathizing , such as observation in   branches , interviewing new customers & branch managers ,   identification & observation of   extreme/ analogous users - industries    & form insights ( discover what is ) . 

 The next step was to form and describe the insights , to conceptualize solutions   and ideate ,   to explore   IT solutions that can improve customer experience , optimize current procedures    and of course to create and test our prototypes(describe what if )   . The visualization tool   that we used in order to create and then test our prototypes was the storyboards .This tool   was very helpful to achieve a shared understanding of our ideas , to agree to the core   assumptions that we wanted to test with our customers - users and to have something   concrete to show to the customers when we would addressing to them in order to test the   prototype . I will describe in detail the procedure we followed using the visualization tool in   the application section below . 

 Application 

 We decided to do the prototyping actions related to the three of the ten insights we have   identified .   For the activity , the group divided into smaller groups of four participants each representing   an idea for prototyping action    In order to make concrete our ideas we decided that each group   to use a poster size   white   paper   to design   a storyboard in which the members could simply draw a high level story ,    which consisted of 4 to 6 pictures in order to describe the idea and the customer journey   related to that . The activity had to be completed within 10 minutes .   When the storyboards were ready each team presented the story to the members of the   other teams .Every member of the other team had to say 2 things that he liked in this story   and one that makes him wonder about something else , to write them   down in 3 post – it     and stick them to the relative picture .    For example in a storyboard of one team which described the story of   a new customer who   applied digitally through website for a financial service offered by the company , one   member of the other team said and wrote in post – it :   I like that the customer has the possibility for digital application anytime he prefers ,   I like   that he could avoid the queues in the branches in order to be serviced by an officer for his   application ( something that usually degrades the customer experience ) , I wonder if the   customer is not using digital ways in order to be serviced and prefers the human touch with   an employee .   Then every team had to take into consideration and maintain the feature which the other   teams liked and to find ways to redesign / clarify the features they have make some 

 Final Assignment – Design Thinking of Innovation- Maria Panagiotopoulou – Visualization 

 members to wonder and in a new poster size white paper to design   the new , refined   storyboard . This process had to be repeated two more times before we go with the final   storyboard to the customer / user to test our prototype .    When the final storyboard was ready , each team had first to decide to the core assumption   related to the prototype that was necessary to be tested .   Then every team needed to find a user and make an appointment with him to show him the   storyboard ( prototype ) and experiment - test it - get feedback from the   customer - user by   making him open questions in order not to direct his answers , to give him the chance by this   way to express himself about what he   thinks , feels , says , does about the story , what he   likes , dislikes or suggests   in order to improve about the idea .   After this procedure , every team had to take into account all the things that emerged   through this experiment and to design a new even more refined storyboard , which had to   test it with another user .     We agreed to repeat this test 5 times trying to evolve our ideas and then the team had a   workshop in order to discuss , present   the final storyboards of each team and decided which   ideas considered viable   & feasible to deal with in order to significantly improve the new   customer ’s experience . We managed to define what wows to the customer & what works .      Insight & Approach   What I have learned from conducting this exercise is   that the usage of a storyboard   – especially the final - refined storyboard that incorporates the feedback of the members of the   team & the customers feedback – is very significant for reinforcing the understanding of the   problem the group trying to solve .   But the aspect of the activity that has significant value is that the team during this process   shares insights and learning that emerge while they are trying to define the space of their   problem .   The storyboard gives the diverse group of members ,    a focal point for discussion which gives   them the opportunity to share their perspectives and develop insights into potential root   causes of their problems .   While the team could use a narrative to describe their ideas , and then after discussion to   rewrite and refine the narrative to describe the idea ,   by using visualization tools such as   storyboards , managed to engage the logical & the creative side of their brains ( and the   customers brain during the experiment ) . Unlike the narrative that can in each one 's mind   create different images , the usage of simple sketch can help make our ideas more   understandable to someone else , and allows ideas to be heart and built upon .   By using simple storyboards to design prototypes we have proven to the company that it is   not necessary to invest a lot of time and resources in order to design and run an experiment   in order to learn about aspects of our    ideas . We understood that by using simple   visualization tools like storyboards ,    we could conduct low risk experiments , at a minimal   cost with a safe audience , which are easy , quick to design & run and most important to be   generative and help the   teams to learn and grow the ideas . It think that it would be a good   idea next time to combine the storyboard with a simple role - play with the customer , in   order to have a more interactive and more vibrant experience during the experimentation .
### Output: 