Evaluating Ideas

Evaluation and Decision-making

WHAT is it?

Students screen the ideas generated from the previous session by their feasibility and originality through the matrix known as Now How Wow, which is an idea selection tool made popular by Gamestorming.1

WHY teach it?

The technique encourages teams to evaluate ideas together and to arrive at a consensus based on criteria that they can discuss and not solely based on personal preferences.

HOW to do it?

Instructions:

▸ Introduction (10 mins)

Recap the last sessions, reviewing some of the ideas generated by their feasibility and originality.
Explain the goal of this session and the several steps that the students will go through.

▸ 10 mins:
Draw a 2×2 matrix, with the X axis denoting the originality of the idea and the Y axis denoting the ease of implementation. Label the quadrants as:

Now/Blue Ideas – Normal ideas, easy to implement. These are typically low-hanging fruit and solutions to fill existing gaps in processes. These normally result in incremental benefits.

How/Yellow Ideas – Original ideas, impossible to implement.These are breakthrough ideas in terms of impact, but absolutely impossible to implement right now given current technology/budget constraints.

Wow/Green Ideas – Original ideas, easy to implement. ‘Wow’ ideas are those with potential for orbit-shifting change and possible to implement within the current reality.

▸ Mapping (20 mins)
Map the ideas on the matrix, leading the students to discuss the reason behind the positioning of the ideas. Stream from needs to concepts.

▸ Evaluating (10 mins)
Ask each player to vote for the 3 best ideas in each category.
They can do this by sticking a coloured dot in front of each of their chosen ideas.

Presentation and debriefing (10 mins)

Chinese Glossary

Feasibility/feasible 可行
Originality/original 原創/有新意

1 https://gamestorming.com/how-now-wow-matrix/

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