You have a good idea. To take it to implementation you must first think through various questions. You might ask:
Who?
What?
When?
Why?
How?
Which of these questions should you ask first? Careful now, all questions are not created equal. Your choice could dictate whether your idea is a smashing success or just a smash!
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2 comments:
Keith, I like your thoughts. However, unless you are going under the assumption that the idea being in existence has already answered the question "why," then it seems dangerous to move initially to when when you don't even know if you are doing the right "what." The only way I can see when being first is if you are determining when is whether to decide if you are doing the idea. Otherwise it seems like you would have to begin with "why" at the beginning of all planning processes to make sure that you even have the right "what" to set a time table for. Thus for me when i have led these types of processes in the past, I have always began with "why" to make sure that we are doing the right "what." Then it would seem that moving into "when" to determine the "who" and the "how" makes more sense. would love to hear your thoughts on this.
Next month I'll address the order of the other four questions (what, who, why, how), so hold tight a few weeks for that.
Your question of which is first "when" or "why" is a good one. I agree with you that logically "why" should go first. It gets to purpose, worthwhileness, etc.
Any idea already has an element of why, what, who, how, maybe even when. It's what we do next with the idea that is in question here. I believe there's enough "why" in the initial idea to test it and ground the continued planning with a general "when" question.
I start with "when" for practical reasons.
+ It weeds out the many crazy ideas I'm not committed to fully exploring the "why" of.
+ It takes me quickly from the theoretical of "why" to the practical of "why".
+ Some people won't be able to answer the "why" to the satisfaction of others stakeholders and can get bogged down without a deadline.
There's plenty of back-and-forth between the questions, and many times we work through them simultaneously.
Anyone else have some thoughts on this?
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