Step 3 - Brainstorm Solutions
Be creative here and put yourself in the case. Write down anything that occurs to you, no matter how odd it may first appear. Try exploring various alternatives that you are considering. What would be the impact on you and on others? Be sure to consider the costs and benefits of each alternative. What's important in this stage is to avoid reaching for a solution too quickly
When thinking about a context for generating alternatives, think about the following:
-
What can be changed?
- new methods and standards?
- educating workers, customers or citizens?
- new hardware? equipment? software?
- new product or design?
- new incentives?
- bring in new people?
- improved public relations?
- increased opportunities for others to provide feedback?
- What are the available resources at your disposal (time, money, people, existing relationships, authority)?
- Can individual behavior be changed (education, training, reward systems, job description, etc.)? Should it be changed?
- Should others be involved (in problem definition, data collection, generating alternatives, implementing solutions, monitoring and assessing realities)?
- What are the restrictions of the solution (time, money, organizational traditions, prior commitments, external realities, legal, "politics" and so forth)?
- In a perfect world, what would happen? This can help think of what needs to be done.