Design Thinking for Innovation Reflection – Visualization 

 Challenge 

 The challenge I am facing is related to a project identified as very high priority by the leadership team of   my company , an IT business delivering communication solutions to our customers . These customers are   typically businesses and government agencies that sometimes have multiple locations around the world .   These communication solutions are charged monthly to the customers with an overage depending on the   volume of minutes or data exchanged . Naturally , customers are looking to track their usage to make sure   they understand how their employees use our services , would it be to track minutes called , megabytes of   data exchanged , etc . and possibly readjust their contract with us if they constantly overuse or underuse   our services . 

 The problem at hand is the following : we need a state - of - the - art customer portal , for them to track   different metrics related to their usage of the communication service and possibly offer other   conveniences such as service configuration management , incident tracking , document library , etc .   Multiple meetings were already held to determine what this portal needed to include , how it is going to   look and how the information would be conveyed to the customers . With long discussions came confusion   around the solution we were working towards and what we were actually working on in each of these   meetings . 

 Selection 

 With this challenge in mind , I decided to build a workshop where I would use visualization to help the   audience align their vision and thoughts on the same solution as everyone else in the room . Visualization   is the tool I identified to be the perfect fit for this project , because it helps : 

 1 . Understanding the problem and having the same understanding as everyone else in the room ;   2 . Idea generation , since everyone can see exactly the solution being worked on and can identify 

 missing elements , flaws or underexploited strengths ; and 

 3 . Testing the solution with actors from outside the project so they understand very quickly , with 

 minimal support , what is the product being worked on . 

 Application 

 Having selected my tool , I was ready to apply it in the workshop context . I applied large sheets of paper   on a meeting room wall and identified each sheet as a customer portal section e.g. “ Real - time Dashboard ” ,   “ Service Configuration ” , “ Analytics ” , “ Document Repository ” , etc . Then , I cut letter - sized sheets into 4   pieces and wrote elements of each portal section on them which I then stuck to the relevant section with   gum tack . 

 For example , 1 of the pieces of paper looked like this : 

 It was placed on the sheet “ Real - time Dashboard ” . I did so for all the other elements already identified by   the project team and then started my workshop with the whole team . 

 This tool really worked well as everyone in the room was aligned on the same solution and we could make   changes and modifications on the fly while seeing the impacts on the final solution right in front of our   eyes . We would write on the different elements or add post - its to the different sections and elements to   explain our points and visualize ideas brought up by the different participants . It also kept the workshop   very active as people did n’t just stay in their chair listening or talking , they were physically involved in the   project . There was a great energy level throughout the whole workshop . 

 It was probably the most productive workshop we had on this project . We ended up generating more   than 40 new ideas which could range from new elements on the portal to simple modifications or   improvements over elements we had already identified . The following meetings on this project always   had these large sheets of paper with us in the room and became a great support for the whole team and   even for the subsequent steps , when we were designing the real portal . 

 Insight and Approach 

 Following this project , I quickly understood how Visualization , and Design Thinking as a whole , was crucial   for the type of projects I had to lead . At the time , I was not aware I was doing Design Thinking , but now , I   am able to put a name on the tool I used . It helped me ( and the project team ) so much that now I do not   hesitate to use the same kind of methods when designing a new product or even when trying to improve   a well - established product . It made gray areas much easier to navigate , and even fun sometimes ! 

 I now understand how I should have used Visualization much earlier , even at the beginning of the project .   I feel like we have lost so much time with the initial meetings than led to nothing ( or not much ) , just   discussions on top of discussions with very few valuable ideas . If I had to do it all again , I would have used   visualization right after my kick - off meeting . What is interesting now is that I also see how the Storytelling   tool would have helped me in the development of my customer portal . I could have roleplayed different   types of customers , try to immerse myself into what they needed and developed these needs into   requirements . It will be interesting to test that approach in one of my future projects . 

 Site X – Status ( Active or Inactive ) 

 Monthly minutes used : XX min   Monthly data used : XX MB 


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 for Innovation Reflection – Visualization 

 Challenge 

 The challenge I am facing is related to a project identified as very high priority by the leadership team of   my company , an IT business delivering communication solutions to our customers . These customers are   typically businesses and government agencies that sometimes have multiple locations around the world .   These communication solutions are charged monthly to the customers with an overage depending on the   volume of minutes or data exchanged . Naturally , customers are looking to track their usage to make sure   they understand how their employees use our services , would it be to track minutes called , megabytes of   data exchanged , etc . and possibly readjust their contract with us if they constantly overuse or underuse   our services . 

 The problem at hand is the following : we need a state - of - the - art customer portal , for them to track   different metrics related to their usage of the communication service and possibly offer other   conveniences such as service configuration management , incident tracking , document library , etc .   Multiple meetings were already held to determine what this portal needed to include , how it is going to   look and how the information would be conveyed to the customers . With long discussions came confusion   around the solution we were working towards and what we were actually working on in each of these   meetings . 

 Selection 

 With this challenge in mind , I decided to build a workshop where I would use visualization to help the   audience align their vision and thoughts on the same solution as everyone else in the room . Visualization   is the tool I identified to be the perfect fit for this project , because it helps : 

 1 . Understanding the problem and having the same understanding as everyone else in the room ;   2 . Idea generation , since everyone can see exactly the solution being worked on and can identify 

 missing elements , flaws or underexploited strengths ; and 

 3 . Testing the solution with actors from outside the project so they understand very quickly , with 

 minimal support , what is the product being worked on . 

 Application 

 Having selected my tool , I was ready to apply it in the workshop context . I applied large sheets of paper   on a meeting room wall and identified each sheet as a customer portal section e.g. “ Real - time Dashboard ” ,   “ Service Configuration ” , “ Analytics ” , “ Document Repository ” , etc . Then , I cut letter - sized sheets into 4   pieces and wrote elements of each portal section on them which I then stuck to the relevant section with   gum tack . 

 For example , 1 of the pieces of paper looked like this : 

 It was placed on the sheet “ Real - time Dashboard ” . I did so for all the other elements already identified by   the project team and then started my workshop with the whole team . 

 This tool really worked well as everyone in the room was aligned on the same solution and we could make   changes and modifications on the fly while seeing the impacts on the final solution right in front of our   eyes . We would write on the different elements or add post - its to the different sections and elements to   explain our points and visualize ideas brought up by the different participants . It also kept the workshop   very active as people did n’t just stay in their chair listening or talking , they were physically involved in the   project . There was a great energy level throughout the whole workshop . 

 It was probably the most productive workshop we had on this project . We ended up generating more   than 40 new ideas which could range from new elements on the portal to simple modifications or   improvements over elements we had already identified . The following meetings on this project always   had these large sheets of paper with us in the room and became a great support for the whole team and   even for the subsequent steps , when we were designing the real portal . 

 Insight and Approach 

 Following this project , I quickly understood how Visualization , and Design Thinking as a whole , was crucial   for the type of projects I had to lead . At the time , I was not aware I was doing Design Thinking , but now , I   am able to put a name on the tool I used . It helped me ( and the project team ) so much that now I do not   hesitate to use the same kind of methods when designing a new product or even when trying to improve   a well - established product . It made gray areas much easier to navigate , and even fun sometimes ! 

 I now understand how I should have used Visualization much earlier , even at the beginning of the project .   I feel like we have lost so much time with the initial meetings than led to nothing ( or not much ) , just   discussions on top of discussions with very few valuable ideas . If I had to do it all again , I would have used   visualization right after my kick - off meeting . What is interesting now is that I also see how the Storytelling   tool would have helped me in the development of my customer portal . I could have roleplayed different   types of customers , try to immerse myself into what they needed and developed these needs into   requirements . It will be interesting to test that approach in one of my future projects . 

 Site X – Status ( Active or Inactive ) 

 Monthly minutes used : XX min   Monthly data used : XX MB
### Output: 