Reflection - Visualization 

 Challenge & Selection 

 The tool that I have used most so far , is the tool of “ visualization ” . At work , I have the role of the   business manager / developer and as such I need to make sure that everyone involved ( stakeholders )   in the process understands what we are talking about . By that I mean : IT , Compliance , Front Office   colleagues , senior management , etc . The previously mentioned stakeholders come from different   backgrounds , fly at different altitude and use different vocabulary , and that ’s the beauty of   visualization : you can usually get by without words and images / drawings usually resonate on a   almost meta - level , allowing you to achieve a common understanding much faster than with written   texts . 

 Application 

 Most recently I used the tool of “ visualization ” in the process of drafting a concept for a “ prospecting   engine ” for a company . The company already had several tools in place for that purpose , but none of   them was widely used , and the reasons for that were plentiful : not user - friendly , redundant data   entry , stand - alone tools , etc . Besides aiming to fix all those painpoints , I wanted to get to a solution   that would also allow us to leverage part of the value chain that can be sourced from third party   providers , such as “ data of potentially interesting prospects ” . 

 As mentioned above , when looking at such a venture in our company , one quickly ends up talking to   the majority of the divisions : Legal & Compliance , Sourcing , IT , Front Office but also Marketing , and   in order to pitch the idea one usually gets one shot . At this point the great strength of visualization   comes into play , and the statement we ’ve heard in the online course is absolutely correct : you do not   have to be a talented graphic designer ! My sketches are usually rather clumsy , but the effect is   absolutely astonishing . Images are so much easier to understand than words and leave much less   room for interpretation . A quick drawing with a few arrows almost magically shows the intended   flow of data , something that even a full page of text would n’t accomplish . 

 I usually use the sticky version of a whitepaper because you can pretty much stick them to any wall   and draw on them with lots of different pens and thus you can get started right away . Once the initial   sketch is done , the discussions start right away , and people can add to the drawing by making   amendments with pens in different color , or add sticky notes . By doing so you can very quickly   engage the different stakeholders into an active ( drawing ) dialogue and one ends up with a nice first   draft of the idea which automatically underwent several iterations . 

 Insight & Approach 

 Further along in the process , we obviously did come up with written specifications . There is no way   around that , but even in those papers , parts of our initial drawing were re - used ! It was really great to   see that ! Whilst I have been using this tool for quite some time , I am very happy to have completed   this online course and have received more professional and scientific background about it from   Angela Myer . It was very inspiring to learn that the tool of visualization unlocks different parts of our   brains and that it allows us to think in a nonverbal way . Thanks to those insights , I will use this tool   even more often going forward . I am very hopeful that it will unlock the potential of our company –   the full range of ideas of my colleagues ! 

 First version of the drawing 


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: Reflection - Visualization 

 Challenge & Selection 

 The tool that I have used most so far , is the tool of “ visualization ” . At work , I have the role of the   business manager / developer and as such I need to make sure that everyone involved ( stakeholders )   in the process understands what we are talking about . By that I mean : IT , Compliance , Front Office   colleagues , senior management , etc . The previously mentioned stakeholders come from different   backgrounds , fly at different altitude and use different vocabulary , and that ’s the beauty of   visualization : you can usually get by without words and images / drawings usually resonate on a   almost meta - level , allowing you to achieve a common understanding much faster than with written   texts . 

 Application 

 Most recently I used the tool of “ visualization ” in the process of drafting a concept for a “ prospecting   engine ” for a company . The company already had several tools in place for that purpose , but none of   them was widely used , and the reasons for that were plentiful : not user - friendly , redundant data   entry , stand - alone tools , etc . Besides aiming to fix all those painpoints , I wanted to get to a solution   that would also allow us to leverage part of the value chain that can be sourced from third party   providers , such as “ data of potentially interesting prospects ” . 

 As mentioned above , when looking at such a venture in our company , one quickly ends up talking to   the majority of the divisions : Legal & Compliance , Sourcing , IT , Front Office but also Marketing , and   in order to pitch the idea one usually gets one shot . At this point the great strength of visualization   comes into play , and the statement we ’ve heard in the online course is absolutely correct : you do not   have to be a talented graphic designer ! My sketches are usually rather clumsy , but the effect is   absolutely astonishing . Images are so much easier to understand than words and leave much less   room for interpretation . A quick drawing with a few arrows almost magically shows the intended   flow of data , something that even a full page of text would n’t accomplish . 

 I usually use the sticky version of a whitepaper because you can pretty much stick them to any wall   and draw on them with lots of different pens and thus you can get started right away . Once the initial   sketch is done , the discussions start right away , and people can add to the drawing by making   amendments with pens in different color , or add sticky notes . By doing so you can very quickly   engage the different stakeholders into an active ( drawing ) dialogue and one ends up with a nice first   draft of the idea which automatically underwent several iterations . 

 Insight & Approach 

 Further along in the process , we obviously did come up with written specifications . There is no way   around that , but even in those papers , parts of our initial drawing were re - used ! It was really great to   see that ! Whilst I have been using this tool for quite some time , I am very happy to have completed   this online course and have received more professional and scientific background about it from   Angela Myer . It was very inspiring to learn that the tool of visualization unlocks different parts of our   brains and that it allows us to think in a nonverbal way . Thanks to those insights , I will use this tool   even more often going forward . I am very hopeful that it will unlock the potential of our company –   the full range of ideas of my colleagues ! 

 First version of the drawing
### Output: 