RESOURCES
Implementing Solutions
Now that you have determined your Solution, you need a plan to put it into action, gather feedback and improve. Developing a plan will help you effectively implement the Solution, gather feedback and make improvements. The following tips will help you effectivey plan and implement your Solution.
Planning
The development of the Solution leads to an implementation and evaluation plan. The plan includes an in-depth description of the Solution, strategies, the stakeholders, and how to measure success. A thoughtful implementation plan will save time and resources. Create a timeline, identify the necessary resources, if needed, create a budget, and acquire permissions. The more organized you are going into the implementation, the more you increase the potential for success and collect the information needed for future improvement.
Evaluation
While developing and implementing a Solution, it’s important to measure outcomes, reflect on what worked and what didn’t, and determine the Challenge’s impact. Use surveys or interviews to collect data and analyze whether the Solution had the desired effect. How will you determine if your Solution effectively solves the Challenge? What will you measure and how? Know how you will evaluate the Solution’s impact before the implementation. Standard evaluation methods include pre and post surveys and interviews with participants. Have your approach planned so you can roll it out with the Solution.
Stakeholders
Carefully consider the stakeholders involved in the implementation. Who is the direct audience? How will you reach them? How will you collect feedback from them? Are there other individuals you need to notify? What level of commitment is required? Creating an exact list of the stakeholders with their roles and needed level of commitment will improve your chances of a successful implementation.
Resources and Budget
Having a great solution without the resources to develop and implement it can be very frustrating. As you are working through your Challenge, keep in mind the resources needed to create and implement the Solution. If it appears that a budget is going to be required (materials, hosting, people), make a detailed budget and begin exploring options for funding. Also, explore free resources and avenues for implementation. You may need to scale back and do a free implementation to attract resources for a larger-scale effort in some cases.
Overcome and Adapt
Even with a carefully planned implementation, things may go wrong. Timelines will slip, stakeholders will have issues, resources may disappear. To make it past these difficult times, have a process for managing issues and some contingency plans for moving forward. Often with a little bit of lateral thinking, you can overcome obstacles and have a successful implementation.
Iterate
Through the implementation process, you will get feedback from the stakeholders. Use this information to make your Solution better. This iterative design cycle will most likely raise new Guiding Questions requiring further research, which would swing you back into the Investigation Phase. This iteration process also has the potential to identify new Challenges and Solutions.