Constraintstorming

By Andrew Crow 9 Comments

Recently, I lead a project that included “designing the future of X”. Any time you have these kinds of projects, the sky can be the limit. But, without limits, the chances of success are often low.

Our first step was to conduct a brainstorming session. The goal was to get all the ideas out of our heads and onto the wall. No judgements, just sketch and write as many ideas that came to us. We rewarded quantity over quality at that point as it helped ensure that everyone was heard and nothing was shot down yet.

After an hour, this lead to a large quantity of ideas – some were great, others were insane. But, the group felt like all the possibilities were now in front of us and that signaled success.

The next task was to start narrowing down the ideas into a few concepts to begin exploring. Sometimes, narrowing was easy – many of the ideas were duplicates and some (like the one about preparing for aliens) were easy to dismiss. However, many of the ideas and needs were disjointed and there was no clear way to prioritize. They lacked any real constraints for the project which, in turn, kept us from being able to focus our efforts.

So, building on the momentum of brainstorming, I suggested we constraintstorm.

I asked the team to list all the things that would affect the project, both internally and externally. Things like time, budget and feasibility were obvious.

  • We have a finite time to work on the project
  • They have a finite time to complete the project
  • And, even if we ignored time, there are some feasibility issues

I then asked them to list more constraints on the board. We came up with:

  • Framework (features we could do Now, Soon, and in the Future)
  • Existing technology
  • Developer’s skill
  • Technical (eg. access to data)
  • Politics
  • Security & Safety
  • Impact of workflow change on users
  • Device appropriateness
  • Adoption incentive
  • Value to the business
  • Value to the user
  • Budget

The admission of constraints had an immediate affect on the workshop. We were able to narrow the ideas much more quickly. It set the project up for greater success because we were all in alignment around common, achievable goals.

Capturing the constraints isn’t the last step. There are exercises that help provide additional focus by examining feasibility and value. Brandon talks about this at UX Intensive’s Design Strategy day. But, if you find yourself in a situation where you can’t seem to narrow your ideas or if it feels like the finish line keeps moving, take a moment to list possible constraints and talk about them. They will guide your design process just as much as your great ideas.

There are 9 comments on this idea.

Chris Noessel

Constraintstorming is a nifty idea (not to mention a cool portmanteau.) I’m curious to know if you had to/had a way to prioritize the various constraints, like “existing technology” may not change for a year, but “adoption incentive” can be part of the current design challenge.

Andrew Crow

Yes! Dan, your article is a great summary of constraints! A must read for anyone who is reading this post.

Chris, we didn’t really try to prioritize the constraints. I think you’re right in that not every constraint carries the same weight or importance. Some matter more than others. In this case, our client knew what were the biggest issues and which could be managed. But, it’s probably a good idea to round out the conversation by asking them to talk about what constraints are flexible and which are not. Keep in mind, I scrubbed the list above to protect the client. But, “existing technology” could be more explicitly written like “existing API implementation for 2010 (knowing that certain features become available in Q1 of 2011)”. The details are important as they can shape your roadmap.

MLR

Constraintstorming is an essential part of Step Two’s 6x2 methodology for managing intranet developments. In that methodology, you apply the constraints to a wishlist and end up with a feasible project scope.

In practice I’ve found it’s the part that people least like to do - nobody enjoys thinking about the ‘cannots’!. However, applying constraints to a wishlist can also end up being a creative process as people start looking for ways to mitigate or eleminate the constraints.

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