Feasibility

Is it Feasible? 
Determining if your  idea can work in practice is a vital. Often adjustments need to be made to the original idea. An idea is rarely a finished product and seldom practical. Additional thinking is needed to perfect an initial idea.

Searching for ways to carry out the project can be made by directing the attention to why something could work. In many situations, we are asked to find reasons why something would not work. Yet, it is important to explore how you can make an idea work and examine ways to improve upon the idea or suggestion. In our daily life, we often become used to inconveniences. Inconveniences should be taken as triggers for things that can be improved upon.

A useful acronym is TELOS, which defines five areas of feasibility that determine whether a project should run or not.

T – Technical – Is the project technically possible?

E – Economic – Can we afford the project? Will it increase profit?

L – Legal – Is the project legal?

O – Organisational – Can the organisation accept the change?

S – Scheduling– Can the project be done in time?

If you study the box with the TELOS, you find that the five areas of feasibility are negatively formulated, or Black Hat Thinking is required to explore the feasibility.  Many thinking tools that we have found have been Black Hat Thinking orientated. Try to design a positive equivalent when you are using a thinking tool.

This will prevent you from being unconsciously lured into looking for dangers or risks when your intention was to look for positive aspects.

T: In what ways could we make the project technically possible?

E:  Could we make the project more affordable? Could we increase profit?

L: Could we make the project legal?

O: Could we do accept the change by the organisation?

S: Could we do the project in time?

For complex  projects, it is advised to conduct a formal feasibility study. A feasibility study is a process that defines exactly what a project is and what strategic issues need to be considered to assess its feasibility, or likelihood of succeeding. We can estimate feasibility given the existing system. However, even more interesting is to explore the possibility that we can modify either the idea or the system to increase the feasibility.

Photo: Tree In Drop Of Water by dan