Concept Planning

By |2022-10-18T17:36:27+02:00February 10th, 2022|Business, draw.io, productivity, security, use cases|
Reading Time: 17 min

One woman had a dream to change the world. A young startup in Silicon Valley promised to revolutionize the medical world with Edison.
A small, desktop blood analysis machine that could in minutes run through a barrage of tests using a few drops of blood.

In this blog post, we will discuss Concept Mapping and how diagramming can help clarify complex and challenging business decisions.

Theranos and Edison

Theranos promised groundbreaking technology in an affordable small package.
The company figurehead Elizabeth Holmes enjoyed rock star adoration. Edison, it was hoped, would help in the early diagnosis of many serious illnesses.

The engineering and science were a generation ahead of the competition. But slowly, stories began to circulate that both Edison and Theranos themselves were seriously ill, technically and financially.

The crash

Edison was an attractive proposal. Theranos secured hundreds of millions of dollars in investment for a medical device that never delivered on its promises. Among the investors were many well-known names, including Rupert Murdoch, former Secretary of Education Betsy Devos, and Walmart’s Walton family. In all, Holmes raised nearly $1 billion from investors.

But one must wonder about the investors’ due diligence on a project promising to do the impossible. The thought processes, and the inspiration that persuaded the board, employees, and especially the big investors to jump on board.

Could Concept Planning have identified the risks if carried out by those investors? Of course, Concept Planning can never root out abuse, but it can create transparency, and transparency builds trust.

Concept Plan

The aim is to produce a Concept Plan or Concept Map as its sometimes known from the initial idea to the final decision. In this blog, we will suggest a possible approach.

Concept Planning

The big idea

It might be a Eureka moment, or perhaps this idea has been fermenting in your thoughts for a while. Or maybe it’s a crisis, and a solution has to be found ASAP. But whatever, the first step is to gather your team and get their thoughts.

First steps, the Board editor

Brainstorming gets the idea rolling no matter how far-fetched. It’s a diagramming task requiring an uncluttered workspace offering speed and flexibility. Such as the workspace that the new draw.io Board editor provides.

You can assign someone to be the whiteboard marshal or just let everyone draw their ideas collaboratively. There are no stupid ideas, and here we need the negatives just as much as the positives.
We are not concerned about appearance, the diagram will be messy, but it’s the content that counts.

But equally important in any Brainstorming session are the negative comments. There has to be a degree of realism in discussing what is possible in any new concept. Plus, it’s vital to ensure all voices are heard and given equal status. Again another graphical technique can be applied here, Dynamic facilitation, where Brainstorming sessions are marshaled, ensuring all participants have the equal opportunity to speak, especially when working remotely.

See how to build a Dynamic Facilitation graphic using the new Board macro in the video below

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Refining the ideas

Similar ideas or points can be clustered together, and color can help clarify thought processes. Perhaps several steps in this refinement process are required, but eventually, the beginnings of a concept map will have started to take shape.
Our blog post on “What makes a diagram a great diagram” can help.

Flow Charts

So the idea is starting to evolve. But, first, we need some sort of filtering to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Flow charts offer this, ensuring each point is subjected to the same decision-making criterion.

Flow charts impose a logic, yes or no decisions. Is this step possible? Is the technology mature enough? If not, what are the alternatives?
It’s the first line of defense, the gatekeeper. The impossible (ideas) shall not pass.

After the flow chart pass, our concept map starts to take form, but more refinement is needed.

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SWOT a more detailed review

Before we construct our final concept, a SWOT analysis may assist in the final refinement of the project.

For example, one critical step may solve and problem in your project, so it’s a strength, but it also may have some intellectual copyright issues attached. i.e., someone else owns it and may seek to license it.

Each idea occupies a unique position on A SWOT diagram; That position relative to each zone indicates associated issues.
To learn more about diagramming and SWOT, read our blog post here.

Final analysis

Here we can use Hierarchical or Chronological Maps to slot the ideas into order. A visual representation of goals is how achievable these may or may not be.

Then using the refined information in the Hierarchical Maps, we can build and present our Concept Map.

The video below shows how quickly a Concept Plan or Concept Map can be drawn using the refined information gained from the previous steps.

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Revision Handling

This entire concept mapping process can be highly iterative as some promising ideas bite the dust, and older discarded ideas are resurrected and looked at again.
That’s where Confluence and draw.io really work. Every diagram is recorded. Complete version history with comments on modifications time-stamped.
Thus backtracking to old ideas is a pleasure. In addition, clearly defined decision roadmaps are all recorded and available.

Security

Your next big idea could be exceptionally valuable, and Data Governance a critical factor or, in other words keeping your competitors guessing.
draw.io for Confluence and Jira is Cloud Fortified. But in addition, draw.io went one step further in offering Data Governance, ensuring that any data is just as safe on Cloud as it is on Server or Data Center.

Keen to learn more, visit our YouTube Channel for a constantly updated playlist of how-to videos.
Visit our one-stop tutorial shop to pick up all the ins and outs of draw.io diagramming.
Or book a free demo to learn more about the limitless ways in which draw.io can make life easier and more productive for you and everyone in (and outside) your company!
Happy diagramming!

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About the Author:

Engineer, Broadcaster, Newshound, and Corporate Media Consultant. Encompassing a wide and varied career in broadcast media, starting as an installation project engineer with the BBC, working with everything from RF engineering to coding. Then moving to a live news operational position in Newsgathering, BBC N Ireland, before transitioning into journalism. A career path that encompasses both pure engineering and broadcast journalism gives Peter the ability to write engaging articles about complex technical issues with simplicity, clarity, and elegance. Peter is now a content creator for draw.io.