Managing Projects for Ministry

182 Manag i ng Pro j ec t s for Mi n i s t r y

The Continuing Reign of Adhocracy: TUMI’s Prototype Shop, continued

allow for us to easily change and adapt our work based on the project at hand.

In order to administer the Shop , we will have to concentrate first on generating a number of solid ideas worthy of our attention and exploration. Prototyping is largely about working a combination of diverging and converging processes, that is, getting as many ideas as possible, and once you settle on the ones you deem best, refining your work on them until you obtain excellence. For the procedure of the Shop , I am advocating that we adopt Tim’s tried and true process for product design. We can ape Tim’s great procedure with little or no revision! Check out his ideas below: 1. Begin with thumbnail sketching. Protect this time in the process – make it enough time to get out every idea in a thumbnail form – each as varied from the others as possible. Sort of like making a catalog of ideas. No critical judgment in this stage. Minimum time involved in getting ideas down on paper. This is the critical step to doing great work. 2. Edit through thumbnails and find ideas that are worthy to pursue. We would be looking for an idea that leads people to mysteries behind the real and that effectively performs its function. Produce a rough sketch of each idea – spending only enough time to make the ideas communicable to others. For a logo this might mean being able to present 3-5 rough ideas. Test idea on anyone that may give valuable input on readability. 3. Select the best idea to refine. This is the craftsman stage. Produce a working drawing (or design) – accurate and detailed. Then refine and re-refine. Set it aside, come back and refine some more. Bring in people who would give valuable critical judgment of design.

4. Produce final art or design. This is only for anal people. It is “A” or “F” time. It is either excellent or it fails.