design thinking, framing the problem as part of an assignment

1. Framing the problem
School of education, five different
programs, diverse targets, different
stakeholders, heterogeneous skills,
different levels of expectations

2. • Vision, mission, strategic objectives have been
defined, common for all
• Operational objectives differ due to skills,
interests, experience
• Levels of communication become barriers
• Deadlines and urgencies block out important
and more trascendent matters, contingency
eats up creativity

3. Emphatize
• It made me realize I was not the only one frustrated, I
could tell my colleagues were anxious, they felt
excessive pressure, they showed me some things I had
overlooked at and they used this interview to complain
about being overloaded and it was really difficult to
keep it as an interview
• I would say it was a very difficult assignment, not
because I could not emphatize but because it was
really hard to separate ideas from feelings, objective
from subjective, urgent from important and personal
from professional

4. define
• A structure of work organization that would
suit the university, the school, the directors,
the teachers, the students, the staff

5. say
• Too many expect too much
• No time for reflection
• Success is never enough
• Things would be easier with more heads and
hands on task
• Interruptions at all times
• Interactions are unfrequent

6. do
• Open door policy at all times
• Mobile phones open at all times
• Meetings state only starting hours
• Computer screens crowded
• Desks full of papers
• Answer questions while typing
• No written record of agreements

7. think
• Something has to break the system
• Nothing should change, it is only a matter of
organization
• We are doing as much as we can
• There is no such problem as inefficiency, it is a
problem with expectations
• Everything could improve with better
schedules

8. feel
• Undervalued on a professional perspective but
valued as persons
• Cared for but also heavily pressed upon
• Enthusiastic about trying new designs
• Willing to try new schemes
• Positive about output