User:Rfs/Strategy Proposals

Based on prior experience, when a lot of big ideas are thrown up, we talk about them until we're tired of talking about ideas. Then we pick one to follow-through with, and that either falls flat (since there was not enough planning and thinking involved) or we get lucky and it works but we're not sure why or how. A more rational process looks like this:

1. Identify likely options
   • After brainstorming or coming up with a number of ideas in some other manner, put them on a list, and have short discussions about them. Send smaller, operational ideas to relevant people or groups. Ideas that don't seem worth the effort can be removed at this point. The idea is to try to get to a manageable number of options to work with. There still should be several to examine more closely when this step is completed.
2. Create plans
   • A business plan needs to be drawn up for each likely item. See the business plan section below.
3. Bulletproofing and tweaking plans
   • Try to shoot down plans
     • Research shows that a key aspect of reaching a high quality decision is evaluating problems associated with an idea. At this stage, we should try to throw problems at the business plan. What could possibly go wrong? How would we deal with it?
   • Fix plans
     • Rather than abandon the plan, tweak it to withstand the most likely problems. Develop contingencies for the less likely problems that may develop. But anticipate and work these into the plan, rather than be surprised by them.
   • Repeat these steps until we're reasonably satisfied
4. Pick best plan(s) to work on
   • Compare the plans now that they have been thoroughly thought through. Use an impact/effort grid and/or a ranked preference process to set priorities. We are not deciding what won't get done ever here. We are deciding what we will try to do next. Sometimes the first thing to do is not the most important. Dependencies between ideas play in to this as well.

Business Plans

What should go into these plans:

Description of strategic issue

Mandates and expectations

Mission & values

Stakeholders (internal & external)

Go through each stakeholder group and examine the plan from their point of view. Put yourself in their shoes and figure out:

• How they will perceive this.
• How they will be affected by this.

See Free Geek Stakeholders for a list of points of view to consider. Remember to look at the issue from all points of view. For example there are technical and non-technical volunteers. Don't limit yourself to just one type.

Resources

Resources include time, space, and money. There are limited supplies of each. So by spending $1,000 on project X, we are taking it from where? Project Y? When we put a task on someone's plate, which task falls off? Who does it? Or do we stop doing it? If we dedicated a room to this project, where is that room? What happens there now? Describe the impact on all of these resources.

Focus this section on the long term. Once the project is up and running, what is the resource impact?

People (staff, volunteers) measured in time

Money (dollars)

Space (square feet, but also location--store front vs. attic, etc.)

Implementation plan

Cost & benefits

How to measure success & how to identify failure

Risk factors, confidence

Assumptions list