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AMI JHARNA
AMI JHARNA
MIZBAH PATLA
My Role: User Researcher & Designer
Research Method: Exploratory Research & Concept Testing
Project Type: Individual Final Project
Project Timeline: 10 Weeks
Background
Think Tank empowers young professionals to seamlessly adapt to a stimulating work environment, fostering innovation, and growth. The goal of this research project was to integrate complex workplace adaptability and enable these individuals with tools that can help them construct ingenious solutions with efficiency to the best of their potential.
The Challenge
We live in an era of risk and instability. Globalization, new technologies, and greater transparency have combined to upend the business environment. Young professionals, in particular, can be overwhelmed by how much they don't know or understand, which makes them unproductive.
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Although models have been published in the literature covering various aspects of the job performance domain(e.g. technical performance, contextual performance), researchers have recognized a void in these models and have called for their expansion to include adaptive performance components.
Secondary Research
Professionals can experience a feedback vacuum in the professional world - wondering how to improve, if they need to improve and how they can develop the skills necessary to improve at their firm and in their career. The one-size-fits-none approach compounds for the hires who are working in jobs that require them to adapt to the company's working style almost immediately. When that disconnect is combined with inefficient training, performance is low and turnover is high.
85%
of employees are not engaged or actively disengaged at work, resulting in $7 trillion in lost productivity.
65%
of a worker's annual salary is spent by companies to cover lost productivity or to replace workers.
5hours
a week on average is spent by employees waiting to get in touch with people that have unique knowledge they need.
Purpose of Study & Target Audience
The focus of this project is to examine the challenges and pain points that are a hindrance to an individual's full potential and understand the application of adaptability amongst young professionals and integrate lateral thinking, evoking a sense of fulfillment in their workplace.
Primary Audience
The primary target audience of this project is young professionals and recent graduates within corporate industries so as to understand their behavioral work patterns. These individuals often find it challenging to keep up with the ever-changing market which invariably affects their efficiency and productivity.
Secondary Audience
The primary target audience of this project are corporate companies, managers, and human resources so as to understand the work culture and current corporate training strategies they implement to aid professionals with their efficiency.
Tertiary Audience
The primary target audience of this project are professors and education practitioners so as to understand the ways they advocate lateral thinking, design methodologies, and strategic adaptability amongst young individuals through either teaching or facilitating creative workshops.
The Umbrella Question
HOW MIGHT WE USE DESIGN MANAGEMENT METHODOLOGY TO FACILITATE COMPLEX ADAPTABILITY AT CORPORATE WORKPLACE AND SUSTAIN LATERAL THINKING AMONGST YOUNG PROFESSIONALS?
Sub - Questions
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How might we describe design management techniques and its correlation with professional practices?
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How might we describe complex adaptability and its relevance in its current corporate workplace?​
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How might we describe lateral thinking and its role in the development of young professionals?
Market Analysis
In order to understand the current trends and competitors in the industry, a market analysis was carried out with methods such as PESTEL Analysis, Trends Matrix & SWOT Analysis.
The Research Process
The primary research was conducted with the help of 13 in-person (employee & manager) interviews. These interviews were recorded and later transcribed into key data points and insights as shown below.
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Once all the data points were affinitized, they were first grouped into 5 categories so as to create the empathy maps. The insights generated were then bucketed into pains and gains of the stakeholders and were further used to formulate user personas. The recurring themes were then laid down in a framework that helped with defining the design criteria furthermore.
Empathy Maps
1/2
Persona Maps
1/5
Research Synthesis Framework
In order to re-focus and derive my design criteria, the question here was asked - What are the common factors that help employees work better in their environment? - and evaluated the data in four various categories as follows:
Productivity
Work Culture
Motivation &
Frustration
The data that was invaluable for the employees was mapped out and were plotted in this framework. The closer the insights are to the center, the higher the priority.
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Design Criteria
Based on the insights derived from secondary and primary research, the design criteria consisting of 8 factors were formulated as given below:
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Idea Generation & Concept Development
In this phase of the project, concepts in the form of activities were ideated under each design criteria and were categorized with colors (pink, yellow, and blue) that had similar patterns to formulate sub-concepts 1, 2 & 3 as seen in the pictures. The concepts were then mapped onto a 2x2 matrix having facilitated and unbound as parameters on one axis and low effort and high effort as parameters on the other axis.
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The ultimate goal of this project is to empower employees and give them the right tools to assess their own adaptability and promote creativity in the workplace through activities that are tangible and feasible. Think Tank caters to all the needs of an employee and guides them through their everyday work life with ease and credibility. The concept hence formed is an amalgamation of Concept 1, 2 & 3 and can be illustrated better with the framework given below:
Value Proposition: Statement & Canvas
Young Professionals
Are working in corporate companies and find it challenging to keep up with the ever-changing dynamic work environment which invariably affects their productivity and creativity.
Aim is to create a holistic network to help individuals stay productive and seamlessly adapt to their changing work environment that promotes their overall growth as an employee.
Promoting employees to take charge and assess their working capabilities as an individual as well as in a team that encourages working efficiently.
Employee assessment platforms and tools that are one dimensional and cater to only certain needs.
Approach is make this service accessible across the board and empower employees to seamlessly adapt in a stimulating work environment that fosters innovation and growth.
Brand & Prototype Development
Final Solution
Think Tank consists of a box having 4 brochures specific to certain areas of work. The box will include 4 brochures namely Break The Silos, Goal-Digger, Think Different & Way To Recognition. The box will also have an introduction brochure that will describe the product in brief and give an overview of the product to the end-user.
Introduction Manual
Think Tank is a series of activities that help young professionals cope with their everyday setbacks at work to inculcate a culture of self-reliance, acceptance and collaboration that fosters innovation and growth. The series is divided into 4 categories as given below:
Below is a list of all the activities that are comprised within the Think Tank booklets. For easy usability, the key below helps identify activities due to their color code and also has indicators on what type of activity it is and how frequently it must be used.
Break The Silos comprises of a set of activities that fosters collaborative learning amongst team-members and highly stimulates the experience of working in a group of an organization. It induces a sense of inclusivity amongst individuals of a team and also gives opportunities to these professionals to rapidly enhance their learning curve.
Break The Silos
For every activity, the brochure gives you in information on the type of activity (weather its individual/team) ,materials used, the duration of the activity, when to use it and how to use.
Goal - Digger
Goal-Digger comprises of a set of activities that encourages and prioritizes personal growth and well-being. It helps individuals recognize their value and add to their skill sets through continuous self-directed learning which also assists in striking the correct work-life balance furthermore.
These activities promote efficiency, helps you stay focussed, re-assess strengths/weaknesses, helps with time management, and helps you understand & cater to your needs better.
Think Different comprises a set of activities that promote lateral thinking and creativity in the workplace. It helps professionals escape the traditional and conventional ways of problem-solving that eventually fosters innovation and helps iterate on new concepts.
Think Different
In order to understand the activities better, some examples have also been illustrated in the brochure. For instance, here we take the business model of Skype and use McLuhan’s Tetrad to analyze and distinguish the patterns.
Way to Recognition comprises a set of activities that act as a tool to reinstate positive reinforcement amongst and for fellow employees. It also allows professionals to showcase their work and skill amongst their team members and upper management in an interactive format that establishes true validation and recognition in their workplace.
Way To Recognition
Diffusion Strategy
The final product will have a website of its own namely www.thinktank.com where users can purchase and directly interact with the company and the other buyers.
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Along with this, Think Tank will also publish articles on platforms such as Medium, The Atlantic and through personal blogs to increase its visibility amongst readers. These articles would also have a link to the website at the end of the read to connect the users to the portal directly.
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