They are also evaluated deliberatively, in terms of their relative desirability. First, you must orient your group to the problem, Second, your group must specify what matters in the decision, Third, your group must decide how to evaluate whether or not potential solutions can achieve the objectives, Fourth, your group will create a variety of alternatives for decision makers to consider, An alternative is a set of actions providing a comprehensive approach to the decision problem, Good alternatives share a number of characteristics. And how can we make a choice without alternatives? Get a biweekly email to stretch your strategic thinking muscles!

It is crucial for good alternatives to be value-focused, clear, high quality, comprehensive,  technically sound, mutually exclusive and has the ability to expose trade-offs. We choose our future when we make our strategy. It is a waste of time because everyone knows what we are going to do already (“groupthink”), Aren’t we better off “focusing on execution” instead of debating theoretical alternatives. Usually, what decision makers need is good information about a small, carefully thought out set of alternatives – their consequences, key differences (trade-offs) in their consequences, and the response of key stakeholders with respect to these trade-offs. Project management is important in getting things done regardless of what the objectives may be. It is important to take note that exceptional solutions are never possible with the absence of good alternatives. Books are wonderful for creating new thoughts and stimulating great ideas. Value-Focused, meaning that they are explicitly designed to address the fundamental values or ends of the decision – the “things that matter” or “felt needs”, as defined by the objectives and the evaluation criteria; Technically Sound, meaning that in developing alternatives for achieving the objectives, the project team has drawn on the best available information about cause and effect relationships and has designed creative and diverse alternatives based on sound analysis; Clearly and Consistently Defined, meaning that all alternatives are defined to a sufficient and consistent level of detail using logically consistent assumptions, and that a base case against which all alternatives can be compared has been clearly established; Small in number and high in quality, meaning that poor (dominated) alternatives have been eliminated and those remaining have been iteratively refined to incorporate new ideas and joint gains; Comprehensive and mutually exclusive, meaning that individual elements or components of a strategy are combined into complete packages, and that the packages are directly comparable; Able to expose fundamental trade-offs, meaning that they emphasize rather than hide difficult but unavoidable value-based trade-offs and present real choices for decision makers; Developed collaboratively with the people most affected, because difficult trade-offs are easier to make and to accept when people believe that a thorough search for good alternatives has been conducted and that the best alternatives are on the table. Developing good alternatives is iterative and it must be evaluated technically at all times. A range of creative policy or management alternatives designed to address the objectives is developed. You are asking people to think creatively, put aside their inhibitions, and come up with new ideas; then, you go a step further and ask them to use all of their political skills and negotiate a decision. Alternatives generation is basically the creation of alternative solutions to respond to different events that may arise as the project progresses. For example, an American business considering international growth, Canada is only 1 step away from the US business, Europe would be 2 steps, Asia would be 3 steps. There are several reasons: This is where the creative art of strategy comes in, as we have to imagine the possible ways we could grow our business. Generating good alternatives is a source of important insights both from a technical perspective and a values perspective. There is a range of alternatives that are created to address the different objectives developed for different projects. Yet we often move to a single solution, without truly exploring distinct and creative alternatives.
Simply explained by a PMI-certified Project Manager. Read More Books. To prevent groupthink and ensure each direction gets a full and fair evaluation, allocate each adjacency to a different team or individual. Alternatives should reflect substantially different approaches to the problem or different priorities across objectives, and should present decision makers with real options and choices. Evaluation of Alternatives in Decision Making. Good alternatives allow the team to meet the objectives of the project with fewer risks. This site is supposed to help you learn the required vocabulary of the project management world. ), Set up a constructive debate, where each team is responsible for challenging and highlighting the flaws in each others proposals.
Therefore, alternative B for sales data entry is rejected, and alternative A, the use of laptop computers by sales reps, is selected. There is a range of alternatives that are created to address the different objectives developed for different projects. Chapter 4: Generating Alternatives 70 After their brainstorming session, the beverage container team clustered their ideas in this way: Example 4.2: Clustering the ideas generated in a brainstorm Attaching to user adjustable straps brace attachment snap bracelet with buttons strap around palm glove glove with inset track on forearm velcro twisty tie What would our company look like if we adopted a different value discipline. But often these recommendations encompass value judgments that are better made by decision makers. Most often, an alternative is not a single action, but a set of actions – a ‘portfolio’ , “strategy”, or ‘package’ of individual elements that together provide a comprehensive approach to the decision situation.

Good strategic alternatives need to be specific, internally consistent (e.g. Most often, an alternative is not a single action, but a set of actions – a ‘portfolio’ , “strategy”, or ‘package’ of individual elements that together provide a comprehensive approach to the decision situation. Initially, the task is to generate a range of creative alternatives. Use a comprehensive checklist (like Adjacencies) to ensure all possibilities are covered, Use voting to narrow down to the best opportunities - require at least 3 alternatives on different dimensions, Create a different team to work on each one of these alternatives, Position it as a challenge - explore and pitch our alternative to the best of our abilities, whether we think it is the best one or not (of course, better that they passionately believe in it! Please feel free to check my certification status or to learn more about me.

There are several reasons: It is a waste of time because everyone knows what we are going to do already (“groupthink”) Aren’t we better off … Innovation includes applying known solutions in a new situation, or in some cases, a similar context. There is no single solution to problems and objectives may require different types of tasks or solutions in order to become complete. Generating good alternatives is a source of important insights both from a technical perspective and a values perspective. Technical teams take on the task of delivering “recommendations” to decision makers.

I have been managing dozens of projects, small and huge, successful and unsuccessful. They are necessary to provide alternative solutions to the decision-makers when it comes to dealing with the problem at hand. For a …

We can overcome groupthink with a structured process: This Strategic Growth Model maps out all the ways our business could grow to an adjacent business: Adjacencies may be only a single step from our core business today, or they can be more distant. Generating and choosing solutions within a group are two pretty tough tasks.

A good way that we can follow, when we are faced with a problem, is to examine the problem as a whole, observing and noting the complexities that exist and embracing the tension between opposing ideas to create new alternatives that arise from … Alternatives generation refers to sets of actions, strategies or portfolio of different individual elements that exhaust all possible approaches to a particular situation. the capabilities fit with the value proposition we are trying to deliver) and bold (representing a real different strategy, not just s small incremental tactic). In general, organic growth should be one step at a time - once we have mastered the first step, we can take the next step with confidence instead of jumping and failing. Example Alternatives with a low accuracy evaluation (an accuracy score less than 10), or a low overall evaluation (an overall score less than 70) should be rejected. Generating alternatives can be hard for organisations - so hard they often pay lip-service to it instead of creating genuine choice. We call this the Innovate step, but it should not be confused with invention. Generating alternatives can be hard for organisations - so hard they often pay lip-service to it instead of creating genuine choice. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Dear Visitor, I am a PMP (Project Management Professional), certified by the Project Management Institute since 2004. Good solutions are not possible without good alternatives. Developing good alternatives is an iterative task. By the time alternatives are presented to decision makers, they should be: The Difference Between Objectives and Targets, Generating alternatives from objectives and criteria.


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