If I used the term Open Kimono what comes to mind?
For me its nudity. I’m sorry. Maybe my mind sits in the wrong place, but when a colleague recently used the term when discussing GIS, I raised an eyebrow. So today’s blog post is about getting naked.
Nudity & Open Kimono GIS
Well not exactly. The smarty pants among you will of course know the term open kimono. The formal definition:
To reveal what is being planned or to share important information freely. Similar to ”open the books” or an “open door policy,” opening the kimono means revealing the inner workings of a project or company to an outside party.
Sorry to disappoint but though we are thinking here about naked, its not in the ‘without clothes’ way. Discovery is where we are going. Specifically problem and story discovery.
I have mentioned in other blog post this notion of stepping back from the technology and focusing on the problem. Too often we jump into GIS projects focused on the technology. Understanding the problem is key. And that doesn’t mean a short conversation, it means having in place what we call a Discovery process.
Now discovery is based on trust. When we work with clients or potential clients, at the very beginning of our engagement, we step into this discovery phase. This is centred on understanding the problem and evolving the story: where are you today and where do you want to be tomorrow? Trust and openness are a hugely important part of this process. We need these conversations to reveal weaknesses, pain points and areas of concern. That can sometimes be uncomfortable. But our goal is to help move clients to a new place: from challenges to solutions.
So there you have it. Success applying GIS to solve problems is all about open kimono, or getting naked ……. in a figurative sense.
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