Presto Sketching

Chapter 12. Plotting the Course

AS YOU’VE PROBABLY PICKED up by now, to better see a problem is to better solve a problem. Likewise, it’s better to visualize our options about how to execute on our ideas and plans, to help teams discuss them and to help make decisions.

This chapter fills in that foggy space between the ideas and the project plan that gets an idea done. It uses a few simple visual patterns to help you prioritize and organize what work should be done, and why. Let’s take a look at the following:

• Generating actionable options with the Concept Canvas

• Prioritizing action with the Hurdle Track sketch

• Prioritizing resources with the Resource Tank sketch

Generating Actionable Ideas with the Concept Canvas

A little bit of visual structure can not only help you and your team form your ideas, but also communicate and compare those ideas in a much more practical way.

Please Be Careful Saying “QR codes” Around Me

I remember having a brainstorming session from hell once. I was part of a team that had been brought in, along with another team, to help a telecommunications company redesign several of its systems and integrate them into a seamless customer experience.

The stakes were high, and the number of stakeholders in the room was high, too. Way too high for a brainstorming session like this, I thought.

The facilitator—a project manager from another agency—started us off by describing the ...