Reflection Assignment , submitted by Jose Lopez 

 Visualization Tool 

 Challenge 

 After more than 20 years working for large corporations , I have decided to take on the challenge   and the opportunity to reinvent myself as an entrepreneur . Luckily , a few weeks after I left my   previous job I met a college professor who was looking to build a startup but had not had the   time to develop it into a working business . I offered to help and we got started on our early stage   startup ( code name : “ The Box ” ) . 

 It has been an exhilarating time , doing research on problems we both have encountered and   are eager to solve . We have very different backgrounds , so we needed to create common   ground so we could communicate effectively and efficiently in order to build trust and   commitment to our newly found mission together . 

 Selection 

 Previously , I understood visualization as a creative exercise that consists of creating a realistic   mental image of the future one desires in order to facilitate its realization . However , the   Visualization tool for Design Thinking is quite different as it consists of using visual artifacts to   express concepts , ideas and relationships in order to bring them forward in a way that words   can not . 

 My cofounder and I quickly learned that we were having trouble understanding each other   because we would use terms that mean different things depending on the context . We soon   figured out that by making sketches and drawings we could reach mutual understanding much   faster whenever we got stuck . Thus , we intuitively adopted the Visualization tool and made good   use of it for our purposes . 

 Application 

 We started working on “ The Box ” as an ecommerce marketplace for subscription - based   shopping , as we both knew many young entrepreneurs who are having trouble retaining their   current customers and thought it would be a solution to their problem . We drew up many boxes   and circles to represent all of the kinds of sellers we were thinking about , and by collecting them   into a Venn Diagram we were able to make a preliminary segmentation in order to pick   customers for ethnographic interviews : we selected lifestyle products with high purchase   frequency . 

 Once we had a better grip of the pain points and jobs to be done that our customers are facing ,   we used drawings to generate ideas of services , marketplaces and platforms that could help   solve the problem . At the moment , we are in conversations with a UX designer to build a 

 working model of our service ( not yet a prototype ) , based on these hand - drawn figures that   describe the high - level steps for sellers and buyers : 

 We also got a bit ahead of ourselves and went ahead and drew lots of flywheels and virtuous   cycles to represent potential growth models we should consider in order to accelerate growth .   Visualization is our favorite innovation tool ! 

 Insight 

 I learned that in many cases verbal communication ( face to face speech or written messages )   falls short when one is trying to simplify a concept that is complex or based on intricate   relationships between basic ideas . On the other hand , using simple visualizations can help to   transmit and receive messages in a more direct and clear way , even if the drawings are of very   low quality from and aesthetic sense . 

 A key factor that makes visualization so helpful is that it makes metaphors like the “ flywheel , ”   “ cycles ” and “ platforms ” easier to process intellectually because the relationship is evident at a   glance . This may sound trivial but in the high - speed high - pressure world of startups it creates   great efficiency and focus . 

 Additionally , sharing drawings and sketches helps to build teamwork as it allows one to peek   into each other ’s mind . It is fun to use it that way . 

 Approach 

 Next time I begin any kind of business project I will make sure to apply visualization as soon and   as often as possible . To improve the quality of my visual communication skills I plan to read Dan   Roam ’s books on the subject . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: Jose Lopez
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: Reflection Assignment , submitted by Jose Lopez 

 Visualization Tool 

 Challenge 

 After more than 20 years working for large corporations , I have decided to take on the challenge   and the opportunity to reinvent myself as an entrepreneur . Luckily , a few weeks after I left my   previous job I met a college professor who was looking to build a startup but had not had the   time to develop it into a working business . I offered to help and we got started on our early stage   startup ( code name : “ The Box ” ) . 

 It has been an exhilarating time , doing research on problems we both have encountered and   are eager to solve . We have very different backgrounds , so we needed to create common   ground so we could communicate effectively and efficiently in order to build trust and   commitment to our newly found mission together . 

 Selection 

 Previously , I understood visualization as a creative exercise that consists of creating a realistic   mental image of the future one desires in order to facilitate its realization . However , the   Visualization tool for Design Thinking is quite different as it consists of using visual artifacts to   express concepts , ideas and relationships in order to bring them forward in a way that words   can not . 

 My cofounder and I quickly learned that we were having trouble understanding each other   because we would use terms that mean different things depending on the context . We soon   figured out that by making sketches and drawings we could reach mutual understanding much   faster whenever we got stuck . Thus , we intuitively adopted the Visualization tool and made good   use of it for our purposes . 

 Application 

 We started working on “ The Box ” as an ecommerce marketplace for subscription - based   shopping , as we both knew many young entrepreneurs who are having trouble retaining their   current customers and thought it would be a solution to their problem . We drew up many boxes   and circles to represent all of the kinds of sellers we were thinking about , and by collecting them   into a Venn Diagram we were able to make a preliminary segmentation in order to pick   customers for ethnographic interviews : we selected lifestyle products with high purchase   frequency . 

 Once we had a better grip of the pain points and jobs to be done that our customers are facing ,   we used drawings to generate ideas of services , marketplaces and platforms that could help   solve the problem . At the moment , we are in conversations with a UX designer to build a 

 working model of our service ( not yet a prototype ) , based on these hand - drawn figures that   describe the high - level steps for sellers and buyers : 

 We also got a bit ahead of ourselves and went ahead and drew lots of flywheels and virtuous   cycles to represent potential growth models we should consider in order to accelerate growth .   Visualization is our favorite innovation tool ! 

 Insight 

 I learned that in many cases verbal communication ( face to face speech or written messages )   falls short when one is trying to simplify a concept that is complex or based on intricate   relationships between basic ideas . On the other hand , using simple visualizations can help to   transmit and receive messages in a more direct and clear way , even if the drawings are of very   low quality from and aesthetic sense . 

 A key factor that makes visualization so helpful is that it makes metaphors like the “ flywheel , ”   “ cycles ” and “ platforms ” easier to process intellectually because the relationship is evident at a   glance . This may sound trivial but in the high - speed high - pressure world of startups it creates   great efficiency and focus . 

 Additionally , sharing drawings and sketches helps to build teamwork as it allows one to peek   into each other ’s mind . It is fun to use it that way . 

 Approach 

 Next time I begin any kind of business project I will make sure to apply visualization as soon and   as often as possible . To improve the quality of my visual communication skills I plan to read Dan   Roam ’s books on the subject .
### Output: 