Sort, screen and select options for your ideas. Helps you handle the mass of information that flows during your previous activities. Sorting and screening will help you to get rid of the weaker options and select the best ones to take forward. The approach of following these steps, is that rather than overspending time examining the data, it is best to focus on getting a “big picture” view of the challenge or problem.
Ideate, Define (some techniques)
Findings & information gather in discovery activities
Selection Ideas
1-2 hr.
3/5
3-7 (participants)
Once your ideas are in clusters, pick out which ones you can kill off. It could be that they do not fall into any obvious grouping for helping solve the problem or address the opportunity. Even whole clusters can be thrown out if they do not fit in with your ultimate goal. The few most promising and attractive ones remain to be explored further. Reduce to approximately to 8 ideas.
Evaluate each of your ideas in turn using the following measurement factors:
Heart vs Head Rating. Take one of your ideas and begin your evaluation by looking at it from the perspective of both your heart (emotions) and head (logic).
Participants in a group session can do it separately and then compare scores.
Heart. How you feel about an idea – think with your heart. What is your gut feeling on it? Does it excite you? Assign a rating (10-point scale) to the idea that best signal how positive you are about it emotionally. 10 indicates “very positive” and 1 “very negative”.
Head. Use intellectual reasoning- think with your head. Does this idea make sense to you logically? Is it robust? Can you rationalize and justify it? Assign a rating (10-point scale). 10 indicates “very positive” and 1 “very negative”.
Pros and Cons. Break your idea down into its positive and negative aspects- it´s “pros” and “cons”. Make sure you observe in the context of your current market, environment and product mix, not in isolation.
Consider important financial, marketing, and organizational implications. For example: costs, timescales, novelty, brand fit, impact, competition, reliability, quality, attractiveness, morale, associated risks, legal issues, scale, income potential, ease of implementation, safety, company practices, feasibility, and so on.
Pros. What are the positive aspects of this solution? Its strengths? What do you like about it? Why might it succeed? What might others like about it?
What are possible future gains? Work your way round the room and ask everyone to say something positive about the idea being discussed.
Carry out detailed examination of all the positive attributes and their interrelationships. Briefly consider whether you can build on these attributes to make the idea bigger and better.
Cons. What are the negative aspects of the solution? Its weakness? What do you dislike about it? Why might it fail?
Why will others reject it? What are the limitations in the “real world”? Be its worst critic. Explore all the flaws and downsides of the idea in depth. Change your perspective if you need to. Keep an open mind and think how you can convert cons into pros.
Dot voting. Ask the group to cast their votes by placing a dot next to the items they feel most strongly about. They may use stickers or markers to do this.
Each participant has 5 votes and all participants cast their votes all at once. They may vote more than once for a single item if they feel strongly about it. Once all the votes are cast, tally them.
Forced Ranking. Helps a group made decisions by ranking each item relative to the others. The group must determine a criterion for ranking the items, the criteria should be as clear as possible. If there are multiple dimensions to a ranking, it is best to rank the items separately for each criterion, and then combine the scores to determine the final ranking. Examples of criteria: investment, interest, user/customer impact, time to launch, profitability.
NUF Test. Participants rate an idea on 3 criteria: is it new, useful, and feasible? Create a matrix of ideas against criteria. The group rates each idea from 1 to 10 for each criterion and tallies the results. The group may choose to write scores individually and then call out the results for each criterion to create the score.
Scoring should be done quickly as a “gut” check.
Matrix. Pull your ideas, and as a team discuss where each idea belongs on the matrix. Axes Ex.: Implementation [easy/difficult] vs. idea [average/innovative], potential for change [incremental/substantial] vs. results [reducing cost/increase revenue], Implementation [easy/difficult] vs. impact [high/low].
This analysis is done on the basis that in any decision, there are two forces: driving forces (which support the execution of an idea) and resisting forces (which are barriers that may obstruct the change). An idea is viable if its driving forces outweigh its restraining forces.
Driving forces. All the things that will help the idea work. Internal or external forces.
Will it make you more competitive? Can it be implemented quickly? Is it profitable or more efficient? Does it mesh well with the overall business model/vision/strategy? Who or what can assist to make the idea a success?
Resisting forces. All the things that will make implementation of the solution difficult. Internal or external forces (ex. organizational inertia, worker hostility, fear of failure).
What would go wrong with the solution after it is implemented? Could it create more problems in the long run? Does it only practically solve the problems? Who or what can prevent the progress of the idea?
By this step probably some few options stand out more than others.
Before making final decision, put your main ideas to test with the “Force Field Evaluation Canvas”. It will help you consider a high-potential solution in terms of how feasible it is to put into practice. The benefit of doing this as a team before and idea is carried out is that people who are likely to be affected by the solution can have their say early on.
