Idea Map #106 - Franklin Templeton Library Mid-Year Results

Larisa Brigevich is the Director of the Global Research Library at Franklin Templeton. In April 2008 she completed the 5-day Idea Mapping Certification workshop. Her first contribution to this blog was January 7, 2008. I'll let her explain this idea map in her own words. I know her map is quite large, so if you would like the original MindManager map, email me and I will send it to you. For those that don't have MindManager, the pdf version is available on my website. Thanks Larisa!

"This map is a visual summary of the library team's mid-year accomplishments. In the pre-idea mapping past, I'd put this summary in an Excel spreadsheet, ranging between 3 and 5 pages, with information organized by corporate objectives. This time, I've created an idea map instead. I enjoyed working on it more than working on a spreadsheet. Using images to substantiate key concepts such as "raising the bar" made the process more fun.

From the business view point, presenting our numerous accomplishments in a visual format on a single page makes it easier for both, the team and senior management to review (and admire our success :-)). In fact, when I showed the map to the team, the first reaction was "we had no idea how much we'd done during this period". Of course, with a map it is easier to draw connections b/w various activities and add supporting documentations as attachments.

At the top of the map I included corporate priorities, marking them with numbers from one to four. I wanted to attach these numbers or their combinations as images next to various activities/initiatives to link them to corporate priorities."

Idea Map #69 - Identifying Gaps & Action Plans

Larisa Brigevich is the Director of the Global Research Library for Franklin Templeton. We met 3 years ago when I did an abbreviated workshop for their organization. We re-connected in December of 2007 when she attended the full 2-day Idea Mapping Workshop. A week after the class, she sent me this idea map. I'll let her describe it in her own words. Thanks Larisa!

"A few months ago, we established a standard process for assessing and capturing clients' information needs. This includes conducting interviews with individual clients to determine their information seeking behavior, sources they use, information gaps, how the library can help, etc. We capture this information in Client Profiles, the two standardized templates that we use for initial interviews and when developing a specific service (hence two templates). We store them in the database and update them when new information is available.

We have a project leader, a librarian in Mumbai, who oversees this process and makes sure that all parts of the process work smoothly and that librarians follow the guidelines. He is relatively new to the process. We also just hired a manager for the team in Mumbai. I believe that teaching is the best way to learn and internalize new knowledge; therefore, I asked the project leader to train the manager. I was an observer and a back-up person in case the project leader missed something. I wanted to evaluate a project leader's understanding of the process and identify and point out any gaps in his knowledge and in the process itself.

Idea Mapping allowed me to quickly identify gaps. We immediately talked about it and determined the action plan for improving the process as well as a training plan for future trainings."

For the pdf version of this map go to my website. If you click on any column it will sort alphabetically and you can then search by author or map title, etc.