The Project Management Tool Kit: 100 Tips and Techniques for Getting the Job Done Right

Organize the List

When there are no more questions, condense the list. If some ideas are similar, work to combine them into one. If ideas seem similar, but the people who contributed them think they are different, leave them listed separately.

Truncate the list, if necessary. If the list is longer than twenty items, give everyone three or four votes to indicate favored ideas, and reduce the list by selecting the ideas with the most support.

Prioritize the remaining ideas using a systematic process. You could discuss ideas further to generate information on costs and benefits, or apply systematic decision making using weighted criteria and relative evaluations. Another method is to have each person rank order the ideas on the list and use the ...