Critiquing and Prioritizing Guidelines

Now that your team has generated a set of initial ideas, it's time to start evaluating them. Critiquing and prioritizing these ideas is a good way to start developing a feasible plan of action.

Guidelines

Giving a Critique

Direct your comments strictly to the work and ideas at hand without any personal comments.
Be specific. If something's not working, describe why.
Open new avenues for change by suggesting alternative ways to accomplish the same task or goal.
Be liberal with praise for an idea you like.
Be diplomatic and honest at the same time.

Receiving a Critique

LISTEN at all times.
Be flexible and open-minded about the comments you're receiving.
Carefully consider what is being said before judging the merit and whether to accept or reject it.
Play devil's advocate with your own work.
Remember, someone who disagrees with your work or ideas isn't necessary against you. This person may be your best friend and supporter.

Prioritizing

Think about the critique. Does it make sense to you in terms of what you are trying to accomplish? Do you agree with all or some of critique? What priority does it have in making modifications?
Prioritizing ideas and modifications should be based on how best to accomplish the goal and purpose, within the limitations of your project (more on this topic in the next section).
Try to reach a consensus with your team on prioritizing ideas and modifications.
If consensus can't be reached, give yourself more time to consider the issues at hand.

Treat ideas as objects, not personal possessions.

To avoid arguments, treat ideas as objects devoid of ownership. It's wise not to get too possessive about your own ideas. In other words, divorce the idea from the person who produced it.

Let's now take a look at our Vacation Team and see how they are doing with this stage of their project.

Critiquing and Prioritizing:
Kim:	Okay. Let's see what all we have on our list of places we'd like to go.
Pat:	We have Mexico, Italy, Greece and Turkey, Portugal and Spain, Hawaii, Yellowstone, Tahiti, Fiji, Australia and New Zealand, and Bali.
Chris:	Did we ever determine how much time and money we have to spend on this adventure?
Pat:	All I can afford is $1000 total.
Lee:	Well, all the time I have is one week
Chris:	Looks like we have our bottom line, one week at $1000 each.
Pat:	Hmmm… It looks like these limits are going to cut out some of our options. Tahiti, Fiji, Australia and New Zealand, and Bali may be more than we can afford, both in the cost of travel and the time it takes to get there.
Lee:	Speaking of time. You know, I don't have a passport. I'm not sure there's enough time to get all the paperwork through before we leave.
Chris:	I don't have one either. Maybe we should just stick to places we can go without one.
Kim:	Yeah - getting all the paperwork through can be a hassle. Let's be easy on ourselves and stick to places we don't need one.
Pat:	Yeah, I agree.
Chris:	Okay then, we're going to either Yellowstone or Hawaii.
Kim:	You know, I've already been to Yellowstone, and would prefer going to Hawaii since I haven't seen it yet. Besides what's better than vacationing in paradise?
Pat:	Don't think any of us have been to Hawaii, yet. So it's agreed, we're going to Hawaii?
All:	General agreement.