Here's the thing, though - this is a great start but I still don't see it linked to risk assessment and ultimately the bottom line...I know, what every designer/design researcher/innovator hates to hear...
But, once again, I'm in the position of having to show, to the board of directors of a large non-profit foundation, how our budget will be used to support numerous platforms, under which reside numerous projects/concepts. Essentially, they would love to hear that one or another idea (in this case, the prioritization has already been made, based on collective criteria) will be a return on investment and I have no way, beyond presenting a business case study and linking concepts to future portfolio efforts, to provide that information. What I really need is a risk assessment/predictive model that looks at a variety of future scenarios and takes into account current and future business state/future general population need, etc. Has anyone heard of anything like that? On Mon, Jan 19, 2009 at 1:44 PM, Chauncey Wilson <[email protected]>wrote: > You make a good point though I didn't specifically mention equal voting at > all. You could have a small group who, as you say, have their necks on the > line or you could have private voting of the 10 top designers in the > country > using polling software or you could generate criteria and have your small > group use the criteria as a starting point for a deeper discussion of the > type you suggest. You mention listing the criteria on the board which is a > great starting point, because many groups fail to explicitly identify > criteria that they are using (that method sounds like the QOC method - > Questions-Options-Criteria - that is described in the "design rationale" > literature.) > > Some time ago, I worked with a group of people who necks were on the line > and the use of a group Q-sort on the dimension of 'project risk" for > particular requirements worked much as you described with the different > items getting much discussion among respected team members and then getting > placed into low, medium, and high risks. The discussion for each item often > elaborated on what was risky for the different representatives. > > Chauncey > > > > On Mon, Jan 19, 2009 at 1:59 PM, Scott Berkun <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > > > All of these methods you listed strike me as limiting in they emphasize > > equal voting - often I don't believe everyone deserves an equal vote. > > Heretical perhaps, but I'd much rather let a small number of people who > > will > > be held accountable for the final design entirely drive these > explorations. > > It's their necks on the line. They should at least win or lose on their > own > > intuitions. > > > > Having people vote on one sentence, or one sketch, descriptions of ideas > is > > always a crap-shoot: people are heavily biased to the ideas they're > > familiar > > with, and they can't be equally familiar with all the ideas. > > > > With a pile of 50 ideas and only time to explore 5, I'd sit down with > the > > three or four people most accountable for the final result and talk it > out. > > I would depend on intuition, debate and persuasion more than any sort of > > numerical/polling/ranking system. > > > > If I did anything "methody", which I'd try to avoid, I do one of two > > things: > > > > 1) Have a list of criteria, or project goals, or desirable attributes up > on > > the whiteboard during that discussion to help us frame our opinions. > > > > 2) Make the goal to pick one high risk idea, three medium risk ideas, and > > one low risk idea. This frames the problem of picking alternatives as a > > risk > > portfolio, where our goal is to distribute the creative risks in some > way. > > This makes it ok to advocate a crazy idea, since that's desirable to fit > > the > > high risk slot. > > > > But most importantly, if I didn't have the power to grant this much > > authority to those 3 people, my real problem is political, not the quest > > for > > the perfect number of alternatives. > > > > -Scott > > > > Scott Berkun > > www.scottberkun.com > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: [email protected] > > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of > > Chauncey Wilson > > Sent: Monday, January 19, 2009 10:26 AM > > To: christine chastain > > Cc: Dave Malouf; [email protected] > > Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] How many alternatives, concepts,or sketches > are > > enough? > > > > I would be curious to hear what tools colleagues do use for > prioritization > > of ideas. The key issue here is what the criteria are for choosing > ideas. > > In the early stages of ideation, the criteria might be different for > > choosing what to consider further (the 10 ideas out of 300) versus what > to > > consider when you move into detailed design. > > > > Some general methods for prioritization are: > > > > 1. The monetary method where a sample of people are given a fixed amount > > of > > "money", a list of ideas or requirements along with their relative costs > > and > > then asked to "buy" the things of most value. > > 2. The criterion matrix where you list the criteria (weighted or > > unweighted) and then calculate a score with the top scores meeting more > of > > the criteria. > > 3. Q-sorting where you ask people to sort on an important criteria on a > > scale ranging from low to high. > > 4. Private voting for the best ideas > > 5. Public voting for the best ideas (red dots on the best ideas) 6. > > Consensus 7. Decision by a leader 8. Decision by another group 9. The > > target method (good for a first cut between good and not-good idea) > > > > ________________________________________________________________ > > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > > To post to this list ....... [email protected] > > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > > > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... [email protected] > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... 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