If you’re looking to measure some form of progress or impact connected to your innovation (a product, service, or policy) then paying attention to the starting point is critical. Evaluators call this a baseline and it’s maybe the most important line you can draw. A baseline is really the point of comparison for all you …
Illustrating action points within a complex system challenges evaluation users. Time to call on your friendly neighbourhood spidergram for help. Visualizing complex systems is a challenge within strategy, foresight, and evaluation because each component of the system is interconnected with others. Influence on one of these is likely to influence others. From an action standpoint, …
Evaluation is more than just the assessment of merit, worth, and significance of a program, product, or service. Although these are the primary functions of evaluation, it can serve far more than this when designed and implemented in the appropriate manner. Evaluation focuses attention on the things that your organization builds, has built, and implements …
Evaluation’s Hidden Value: Clarifying Your Strategy Read More »
In this latest post in a series on Developmental Evaluation (DE) and its traps, we look at the innovator’s trap of culture. In a quote widely attributed to Peter Drucker Culture eats strategy for lunch Culture is basically “the way things are done around here”, which includes the policies, practices, and people that make what …
Developmental Evaluation Trap #4: Organizational culture Read More »
In this third in a series on Developmental Evaluation traps, we look at the trap of the pivot. You’ve probably heard someone talk about innovation and ‘pivoting’ or changing the plan’s direction. The term pivot comes from the Lean Startup methodology and is often found in Agile and other product development systems that rely on short-burst, iterative cycles that …
Developmental Evaluation Trap #2: The Pivot Problem Read More »
