How do you innovate and develop systems without sacrificing feasibility?

1 Define your problem and scope

Before you start brainstorming ideas, you need to have a clear understanding of the problem you are trying to solve and the scope of your system. What are the needs and expectations of your users and stakeholders? What are the existing gaps and challenges in the current situation? What are the boundaries and limitations of your system? By defining your problem and scope, you can focus your innovation efforts on the most relevant and impactful areas, and avoid wasting time and resources on unrealistic or unnecessary features.

2 Use design thinking and agile methods

Design thinking and agile methods are approaches that can help you innovate and develop systems iteratively and collaboratively. Design thinking is a human-centered process that involves empathizing with your users, defining their problems, ideating solutions, prototyping and testing them, and implementing and refining them. Agile methods are a set of principles and practices that emphasize delivering value to your users, adapting to changing requirements, and working in cross-functional teams. By using these approaches, you can generate and validate ideas quickly, learn from feedback, and improve your system continuously.

3 Evaluate your ideas and solutions

As you come up with ideas and solutions, you need to evaluate them for their feasibility as well as their desirability and viability. Feasibility refers to the technical and operational aspects of your system, such as the availability of resources, the compatibility with existing systems, the compliance with standards and regulations, and the reliability and scalability of your system. You can use tools and techniques such as feasibility studies, risk assessments, cost-benefit analyses, and prototyping and testing to assess the feasibility of your ideas and solutions, and identify and mitigate any potential issues or risks.

4 Communicate and collaborate

Innovation and feasibility are not only the responsibility of the system developer, but also of the system user, owner, and other stakeholders. You need to communicate and collaborate with them throughout the system development process, from defining the problem and scope, to generating and evaluating ideas and solutions, to implementing and refining the system. By communicating and collaborating, you can ensure that you understand and meet the needs and expectations of your users and stakeholders, that you get their feedback and input, and that you align your goals and vision with them.

5 Learn and improve

Finally, innovation and feasibility are not static or fixed, but dynamic and evolving. You need to learn from your experience and results, and improve your system accordingly. You can use tools and methods such as user feedback, performance metrics, user testing, and post-implementation reviews to measure and monitor the effectiveness and efficiency of your system, and identify any gaps or opportunities for improvement. By learning and improving, you can ensure that your system remains relevant, useful, and feasible in the changing environment.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?