My Reflection – Visualization 

 Challenge 

 My company 1 - 1,5 years ago made a conscious decision to not open a vertical that would have 

 complemented our customer experience , and would have provided the company with an opportunity to 

 double its business in 2 - 3 years . The reason : corporate politics , incompetence and vanity . A couple of 

 months into my job , I identified the problem : I wanted growth for the business and an improved customer 

 experience . But how could I move the organization forward ? Frankly we were stuck , I however knew if I 

 could get enough attention from the Board on growth – every department head would be scrambling to 

 deliver . What ensued could be best described as ‘ out of the pan and into the fire ’ : struggle over what and 

 how should be done , and of course , by whom . The one question that was raised later on in this face was : 

 how / what should the customer experience look like ? 

 Selection 

 I chose the visualization tool , as it seemed the best way to cut - through the noise and start driving focus 

 towards what really matters , the customer experience . My company is active in the tech / e - commerce 

 space , therefore talking ( and only talking ) about customer experience is about as impactful or useful as 

 an interpretive dance session on Italian cuisine while your kids are waiting for their evening spaghetti .   To 

 me it was obvious that decisions needed to be made , and that this process needed to be collaborative . I 

 wanted to use a tool that is inviting and allows all stakeholders to express their ideas creatively , freely and 

 compare these with those of other stakeholders . The aggression regarding the business question needed 

 to be diffused and for that this tool seemed well positioned : becoming a part of the planning process 

 should help let go of ego , personal or departmental fears and uncertainties . What could be more innocent 

 than drawing a couple of sketches after all ? For reference to lecture 1 , please see here . 

 Application 

 I secured some time at the end of a 2 day management summit to bring up the topic of what the customer 

 experience of the new vertical should be like . To make the task easier , I went to a large flipchart centered 

 at the end of the room , and drew 2 mock - ups ( essentially 2 scenarios ) . I used visualization to explain the 

 differences between the possible solutions and draw up a pro / con score - sheet and go through the 

 opportunity together with management . These scenarios represented what a customer could experience 

 as a first step in our application , and I involved all present to express themselves regarding this . I created 

 a ‘ Y ’ situation where stakeholders needed to make decisions on what direction we should continue 

 examining further . Participation brought up a lot of questions , and changes were made to the drawings . 

 This led us to address the next steps in the customer journey . From a time and resource perspective we 

 were very efficient – in less than an hour we sorted out a major blocker , silenced politics and agreed on 

 the way forward . By visually mapping how the customer experience should ideally work , we could all see 

 what was right and what was n’t . 

 Insight 

 While it was a successful session , I felt that it could have also gone the other way due to managerial ego 

 ( “ why should we draw here like children ” , “ waste of time ” , “ I know what I want” … etc ) . It reinforced my 

 experience that design thinking can only succeed if there is openness to the method and support from 

 top level executives . What I learned from the session however was that aggression can be diffused by 

 using the visualization tool . I will continue to use it in situations where emotions seem to govern action – 

 if something does n’t make sense on a flow - chart , there is no place to hide ; customer experience either 

 feels right or it does n’t . To get here I needed the support from top management which encouraged active 

 responses within the room . 

 Approach 

 I honestly was too secretive about my plan and did n’t involve all stakeholders from the start . Perhaps I 

 should be more open and try to facilitate collaboration from the beginning . I also pitched my first versions 

 of the 2 possible scenarios without involving others . In the future I will try to address these . 


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: My Reflection – Visualization 

 Challenge 

 My company 1 - 1,5 years ago made a conscious decision to not open a vertical that would have 

 complemented our customer experience , and would have provided the company with an opportunity to 

 double its business in 2 - 3 years . The reason : corporate politics , incompetence and vanity . A couple of 

 months into my job , I identified the problem : I wanted growth for the business and an improved customer 

 experience . But how could I move the organization forward ? Frankly we were stuck , I however knew if I 

 could get enough attention from the Board on growth – every department head would be scrambling to 

 deliver . What ensued could be best described as ‘ out of the pan and into the fire ’ : struggle over what and 

 how should be done , and of course , by whom . The one question that was raised later on in this face was : 

 how / what should the customer experience look like ? 

 Selection 

 I chose the visualization tool , as it seemed the best way to cut - through the noise and start driving focus 

 towards what really matters , the customer experience . My company is active in the tech / e - commerce 

 space , therefore talking ( and only talking ) about customer experience is about as impactful or useful as 

 an interpretive dance session on Italian cuisine while your kids are waiting for their evening spaghetti .   To 

 me it was obvious that decisions needed to be made , and that this process needed to be collaborative . I 

 wanted to use a tool that is inviting and allows all stakeholders to express their ideas creatively , freely and 

 compare these with those of other stakeholders . The aggression regarding the business question needed 

 to be diffused and for that this tool seemed well positioned : becoming a part of the planning process 

 should help let go of ego , personal or departmental fears and uncertainties . What could be more innocent 

 than drawing a couple of sketches after all ? For reference to lecture 1 , please see here . 

 Application 

 I secured some time at the end of a 2 day management summit to bring up the topic of what the customer 

 experience of the new vertical should be like . To make the task easier , I went to a large flipchart centered 

 at the end of the room , and drew 2 mock - ups ( essentially 2 scenarios ) . I used visualization to explain the 

 differences between the possible solutions and draw up a pro / con score - sheet and go through the 

 opportunity together with management . These scenarios represented what a customer could experience 

 as a first step in our application , and I involved all present to express themselves regarding this . I created 

 a ‘ Y ’ situation where stakeholders needed to make decisions on what direction we should continue 

 examining further . Participation brought up a lot of questions , and changes were made to the drawings . 

 This led us to address the next steps in the customer journey . From a time and resource perspective we 

 were very efficient – in less than an hour we sorted out a major blocker , silenced politics and agreed on 

 the way forward . By visually mapping how the customer experience should ideally work , we could all see 

 what was right and what was n’t . 

 Insight 

 While it was a successful session , I felt that it could have also gone the other way due to managerial ego 

 ( “ why should we draw here like children ” , “ waste of time ” , “ I know what I want” … etc ) . It reinforced my 

 experience that design thinking can only succeed if there is openness to the method and support from 

 top level executives . What I learned from the session however was that aggression can be diffused by 

 using the visualization tool . I will continue to use it in situations where emotions seem to govern action – 

 if something does n’t make sense on a flow - chart , there is no place to hide ; customer experience either 

 feels right or it does n’t . To get here I needed the support from top management which encouraged active 

 responses within the room . 

 Approach 

 I honestly was too secretive about my plan and did n’t involve all stakeholders from the start . Perhaps I 

 should be more open and try to facilitate collaboration from the beginning . I also pitched my first versions 

 of the 2 possible scenarios without involving others . In the future I will try to address these .
### Output: 