Evaluating ideas for improving your computer management
Summary: one frustrating element of working in a high tech field with lots of smart people is that it's easier to come up with ideas than it is to implement them. Besdies which, you're already busy with planned projects, typical escalations, your own priorities, etc. How do you evaluate ideas to ensure the good ones are pursued when they should be?
As techies we're naturally going to be inclined to think in terms of the technical merits - we have an issue that boils down to some technical nastiness, and we can see technical solutions. As keen problem solvers, we may want to jump into implementing that technical solution right away. But should we?
The solution may not be the best, for a variety of reasons. It might cause more grief than it solves, in the short term or the long term. It might divert efforts from even more important issues. It might be more expensive than the problem it's solving.
But at the same time you don't want to miss out on the good ideas, or ideas that will be good when the time is right. So how can you differentiate between the good ideas and the not so good, or the ideas that should be pursued now vs. the ideas that should be pursued later? I like the following form as a way to capture the ideas and quickly weight the merits.Other team members can review the form to confirm the thinking. Would you add sections to it for consideration? Are any inappropriate?
Of course you don't want to discourage creativity by introducing red tape, so the intention is that the details in each section should be limited to 100 words. This is not meant to be a requirements documents, a design document, or similar engineering document. It's just a quick capture and analysis of the idea.
Title:
Problem to be Solved:
Business Impact of Problem:
Urgency of Solution:
General Design of Solution:
Detailed Design of Solution:
Side-Effects of Solution (positive and negative, and how they’re mitigated):
How do we know the solution will solve the problem:
Risks:
Is the solution consistent with general team principles, policies and goals (if so or if not, which ones):
Cost of Solution (design, build, test, implementation, documentation, ongoing use, ongoing maintenance, etc.):
Process for implementation of solution:
User and Internal Customer Impact (and need for user communications, helpdesk communications, etc. if relevant):
Administrator, Process, and Tools Impact:
Which other projects will be delayed while relevant people work on this solution:
Alternative Solutions Considered (and why they were rejected):
Summary of why the solution must be put in place now: