Feasibility Matrix
During the Launch Phase of our design capstone project, we needed to identify the stakeholders in which our problem statement effected. In order to grasp a wholistic view on the scope of the problem, we identified 11 stakeholder groups and a total of 51 stakeholder subgroups. However, as we moved onto creating a research plan, we felt overwhelmed by the sheer number of stakeholders identified that we could potentially interview. As a result, we created a Feasibility Matrix to come in agreement of the most important and easy-to-reach stakeholders we should interview in the upcoming Empathize Phase.
How It Works
The Feasibility Matrix is an organization tool used to prioritize points along two dimensions. I first learned about this method in my business systems development class, in which we identified areas we wanted to improve in our client’s current business system and plotted them based on their technical difficulty and their importance to the client. Similarly, our group tweaked this technique and applied it for our situation by plotting stakeholder groups in a graph along two axes. We plotted stakeholders based on their relevance to the problem statement and their accessibility in terms of reaching out to schedule interviews. As such, we were able to identify our most important stakeholders, the ones that are highly relevant and highly or easily accessible. As we only have three weeks for interviews, this identification allows us to prioritize which stakeholders to initially focus on reaching out to.
Tools Used
For our project, we created a Feasibility Matrix in Miro, writing sticky notes for each stakeholder group and plotting them along the axes. However, this method can also be done in person by writing on sticky notes and plotting them on a wall.
Design Method Reflection
Advantages
A Feasibility Matrix is helpful in prioritizing based on two categories. This explicit prioritization can also induce discussion and team alignment to ensure that each team member agrees on where to focus in order to reach the team’s goals.
Disadvantages
When we conducted this method, we plotted our sticky notes on a more continuous basis. In other words, we compared stakeholder groups against each other and plotted them as if they were numbers on a scatter plot. As such, doing this technique can be subjective and complicated. For example, if stakeholder group is identified to be 75% accessible and 80% relevant while another is 76% accessible and 79% relevant, where is the cut off for being highly accessible, and where is the cut off for being highly relevant?
Recommendations
Rather than scattering and plotting on a continuous basis, I would recommend simply splitting the Feasibility Matrix into a 3x3 grid with low, medium, and high levels of each metric along the axes. By doing so, the group can easily prioritize on the sticky notes in the high-high category, decreasing subjectivity.
