Step 6: Reflect on the Results and the Process
All of the team members should be comfortable with the outcome. If an individual is not in agreement with the decision of the team, then perhaps one or more important criteria are missing from the screening matrix, or perhaps a particular rating is in error, or at least is not clear. An explicit consideration of whether the results make sense to everyone reduces the likelihood of making a mistake and increases the likelihood that the entire team will be sol idly committed to the subsequent development activities.
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To avoid scale compression , it is possible to use different reference points for the various selection criteria. Reference points may come from several of the concepts under consideration , from comparative benchmarking analysis, from the target values of the product specifications, or other means. It is important that the reference point for each criterion be well understood to facilitate direct one-to-one comparisons. Using multiple reference points does not prevent the team from designating one concept as the overall reference for the purposes of ensuring that the selected concept is competitive relative to this benchmark. Under such conditions the overall reference concept will simply not receive a neutral score.
Exhibit 8-7 shows the scoring matrix for the syringe example. The team believed that
the master cylinder concept was not suitable as a reference point for two of the criteria, and other concepts were used as reference points in these cases.
Appendix Billustrates a more detailed scoring matrix for which the team rated the
concepts on each criterion with no explicit reference points. These ratings were
accomplished by discussing the merits of every concept with respect to one criterion at
a time and arranging the scores on a 9-point scale.