Idea Screening is your chance to be reductive!

It’s time to measure all of your ideas against your success criteria and focus in on which idea(s) to move forward with.

Think about what makes one idea better than the rest: Is the idea within budget? Can you get it done within the timeline assigned? Is it scalable? Does it get to the heart of your challenge?

By completing this exercise, you’ll ensure that you spend your time focusing on ideas that make sense. There’s no use in wasting your time on an idea that won’t be considered or won’t solve your challenge or project.

Four Steps to Idea Screening

1. Identify your success criteria. Some criteria to consider are cost, time to implement, scalability, and ease of implementation. Stick with four to six criteria.
2. Use a scale of 1-3 to measure each criterion.
   1 = not as good
   2 = middle of the road
   3 = good
3. Return to all of your ideas and discuss which ones best meet that criteria.
4. For those that are measuring poorly, think about how you can modify your idea to move the scale closer to your goal (within budget, within the timeline assigned, etc).