Photo Credit: www.ravensbourne.ac.uk
Prime your Mind - Active Problem Analysis
Below are the questions, concerns and ideas I originally crafted while thinking on the current issues related to my problem of practice:
Incubation
With daylight savings in full effect, a brief rest on the couch to let the mind wander, and the eyes "relax" should suffice for the incubation period.
Reflection
After stewing on a few of the ideas for a while, and resting my eyelids for 20 minutes, there are a few ideas that came out of the session that I believe can help us move forward in the form processing. The first, and one that came to me as a result of asking why and taking a deeper dive into our organization, is to break out the forms receive into folders based on the form, rather than date we received the form. As we try to process forms in order from when we received them, this is an ideal solution, but also one that forces staff to transition between forms and the different steps related to each. I believe staff members currently sort the forms by form within one day, but as forms pile up over the week, we should organize these forms by form name for the week, and then begin to process each. Essentially, a simple re-organization of form collection and processing could minimize data entry errors.
Second, I believe there are two neat concepts that could easily be expanded in my ‘active thinking’ session below. The AskLeland (based on Leland Stanford Junior University) application could be a staff based FAQ database that helps answer specific policy or procedural questions. I believe this would be an excellent idea to rollout eventually, but the scope for a class project (and the amount of data collection) may not be feasible in the short term.
Lastly, I really am excited about the idea of the internal secure website or Wiki-style page that staff can update/modify with their own processing notes when reviewing/entering information from a student’s form. The goal with such a page (preferably wiki), is that the information is housed within one link and the most recent information is displayed. We would have the ability to archive (or overwrite) the documentation to ensure the procedural information is accurate. Individuals would not have to save ‘files’ or word documents locally, and the wiki could also easily link to policies listed on our website and/or the Stanford bulletin. This concept, in coordination with an improved organization of incoming forms could act as an ideal step to minimizing the errors created in form processing.
In reflection back on the incubation period, most of my additional thoughts stemmed from ideas that I highlighted in the initial ‘thinking’ session. I’m not sure if I personally need a longer incubation period, or should have been more active (walking/swimming) to have something else on my mind, but I kept going back to a few key concepts as “a-ha!” moments in the initial session. I’m personally curious if some individuals benefit more so from a constant brainstorming session versus others who excel at the incubation period. I personally find that when trying to troubleshoot ideas on my normal day-to-day responsibilities that I’m best throwing all the ideas out there initially and moving forward right away. However, if an email is involved, I will often take some time to re-read the email or let the email sit for a while before adding any additional insight into the communication.
One area that I really found as a positive in the incubation approach is the actual incubation period – a time away from the original brainstorm to let the subconscious work on any ideas that have been generated. As we continue to shift to the instant gratification and ‘need results now’ society, it is comforting to be reminded of the possibilities that can occur if you let your ideas (and brain) simmer for a while. Rather than jumping down a path that may/may not be feasible, the incubation process allows us to reflect on the key components that we originally crafted, and may also provide a deeper sense of purpose on why these questions/issues were raised in our initial thinking session. Moving forward I will try to use the incubation process in other areas of my job, as I often get caught up in having to find solutions for issues that I inherited with my new job. The incubation process and the reminder to take a few breaks, let the mind wander, and being comfortable with ideas that may be far-fetched (or even fail), could help me grow in my current role (and beyond).
Second, I believe there are two neat concepts that could easily be expanded in my ‘active thinking’ session below. The AskLeland (based on Leland Stanford Junior University) application could be a staff based FAQ database that helps answer specific policy or procedural questions. I believe this would be an excellent idea to rollout eventually, but the scope for a class project (and the amount of data collection) may not be feasible in the short term.
Lastly, I really am excited about the idea of the internal secure website or Wiki-style page that staff can update/modify with their own processing notes when reviewing/entering information from a student’s form. The goal with such a page (preferably wiki), is that the information is housed within one link and the most recent information is displayed. We would have the ability to archive (or overwrite) the documentation to ensure the procedural information is accurate. Individuals would not have to save ‘files’ or word documents locally, and the wiki could also easily link to policies listed on our website and/or the Stanford bulletin. This concept, in coordination with an improved organization of incoming forms could act as an ideal step to minimizing the errors created in form processing.
In reflection back on the incubation period, most of my additional thoughts stemmed from ideas that I highlighted in the initial ‘thinking’ session. I’m not sure if I personally need a longer incubation period, or should have been more active (walking/swimming) to have something else on my mind, but I kept going back to a few key concepts as “a-ha!” moments in the initial session. I’m personally curious if some individuals benefit more so from a constant brainstorming session versus others who excel at the incubation period. I personally find that when trying to troubleshoot ideas on my normal day-to-day responsibilities that I’m best throwing all the ideas out there initially and moving forward right away. However, if an email is involved, I will often take some time to re-read the email or let the email sit for a while before adding any additional insight into the communication.
One area that I really found as a positive in the incubation approach is the actual incubation period – a time away from the original brainstorm to let the subconscious work on any ideas that have been generated. As we continue to shift to the instant gratification and ‘need results now’ society, it is comforting to be reminded of the possibilities that can occur if you let your ideas (and brain) simmer for a while. Rather than jumping down a path that may/may not be feasible, the incubation process allows us to reflect on the key components that we originally crafted, and may also provide a deeper sense of purpose on why these questions/issues were raised in our initial thinking session. Moving forward I will try to use the incubation process in other areas of my job, as I often get caught up in having to find solutions for issues that I inherited with my new job. The incubation process and the reminder to take a few breaks, let the mind wander, and being comfortable with ideas that may be far-fetched (or even fail), could help me grow in my current role (and beyond).