How to do a brainstorming session about timing

muistilappuja.jpgIn order to assess and improve your timing, get your colleagues together and brainstorm on how your project interacts with its environment right now and over its duration. Consider also inviting people from outside your organization who have relevant information. Use the following questions as a guide and inspiration:

1.  Is there an opportunity to take advantage of:

  • existing policies?
  • local initiatives?
  • social movements?
  • newly established partnerships?  

2. Is now the time?

  • Is the technology you want to use well known and trusted?
  • Considering the economic situation, are the known trends in your favour?
  • Are current events creating roadblocks or windows of opportunity? What are they?
  • Are there ongoing projects or processes that you can partner up with?
  • Is there a media campaign or event that can reinforce your outreach?

3. Might timing-related risks challenge key assumptions of your project? For example, can changes in economic incentives such as grants make the solution you are promoting uneconomical?

4. How can you respond to these issues by improving your operating environment or changing your project?

 
What you need to do: 
  • Get your colleagues (and possibly some outsiders as well) together for a brainstorming session. Diversity in participants means diversity in ideas. Select someone to facilitate the session and keep notes of the ideas.
  • Set an assignment by asking the above mentioned questions. Let the participants produce ideas freely, without any criticism.
  • Gather all the produced ideas and organize them, group them together and develop them further.

Template / Checklist:

No Templates/Checklists refer to this tool.