Business decisions need to be made every day in a variety of situations: new product development, testing, bringing to market, optimizing business processes, implementing new ones, integrating and restructuring businesses, hiring employees, and many others.
“BRRR! -EFFECT” is a guide to generating non-obvious, breakthrough business ideas. The 42 suggested techniques provoke the brain and open the door to solutions to problems that seemed unsolvable. The book will help you find solutions: a) quickly, because each method is designed for an average of half an hour of work, and even then, if “from scratch”; b) many and varied, providing a choice; c) precisely defining the problem, to solve it; d) objectively, abstracting from the emotional component.
We suggest trying one of the solution methods described in the book, which is called filtering.
Filtering in six ways
Filtering is one way of choosing solutions. Different types of filtering produce varying results in the output. There are six, and a specific type is recommended for each method.
1. intuitive, or divergent, filtering
Applies to all situations where you are, dispersing the brain, in an open search for ideas, primarily bright, experimental, suitable for growth and breakthrough.
Rate each idea on three criteria with equal (or unequal) weighting:
(a) whether I like the idea purely intuitively;
(b) whether I see business potential in it;
(c) whether there is an easy and inexpensive way to test it (quickly create an MVP, minimum viable product).
Choose the idea that gets the most points on the sum of the criteria.
2. Filtering through ROI.
It is used in the search of viable, working ideas, worthy of implementation and implementation right here and now. Everything is very simple. The X-axis is the cost of implementing the idea, which increases as you move away from the “0” point. The Y axis is the potential benefit of implementation in the foreseeable future, increasing with distance from “0”. Write down all ideas on the resulting space between the axes.
Introduce the ideas in the upper left corner.
3. Filtering by clustering.
This is used in a situation of high uncertainty: when you really do not know what to do. The name sounds complicated, though in fact it’s simple. Take a look at all the ideas you get. Assemble them into blocks (groups, clusters) on the principle of “these 2-3-4 ideas can work together. One idea can be placed in any number of clusters.
Count the ideas in each cluster. Implement the ideas from the largest one. Why would this work? Because of the synergy effect.
4. Filter out high impact ideas
Apply this type of filtering to ideas that have a strong impact on your system as a whole. Apply three filters in sequence, so that each successive filter applies only to ideas that have passed the previous filter.
a) Which five ideas do you intuitively like the most?
b) Which three ideas would have the strongest impact on people and the company philosophy?
c) Which of these three ideas will have the greatest financial impact?
Which idea will pass all three filters – that’s the one to implement.
5. Rational filtering
This is used in the most critical situations, when the entire focus is on financial and other resources. Evaluate each idea by the three criteria with equal weight.
a) Which of the ideas on the list can I be guaranteed to implement?
b) Which of the solutions can I successfully explain to people?
c) Which solution is the most unemotional for me and the most emotional for others?
Choose the idea that gets the most points on the sum of the criteria.
6. Filtering through your own criteria
Use three of your own criteria for filtering, giving them unequal weight. For example, criterion A = 1.5 points, B = 1 point, C = 0.5 points. Develop the top 3 of your own criteria and score each idea on them.
А. What is the estimated cost of replacing an existing product with a low-cost counterpart?
B. What are the potential benefits?
C. What are the risks of replacement? What is the worst that could happen because of such a replacement?
Select and implement the ideas with the maximum A+B+B score.
From the book “BRRR! -EFFECT.
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