GET

S.M.A.R.T.

Synectics Management Action & Review Technique

How a group can plan most anything.

Group problem-solving is hardly the easiest way to get things done.

It takes time, skill and a lot of effort. The manager or group leader must feel comfortable with consensus decision-making, confident in the other group members' abilities, and secure in his conclusion that – in this project at least – no other decision method would be as likely to produce the best possible plan.

Once the planning group has been assembled, the first problem it must face is how to attack its assignment in the most efficient and rational manner.

Members must deal not with just the content of their task, but with the process by which they'll hope to deliver effective solutions. That's what this little "workbook" is all about: the group planning process.

"GET S.M.A.R.T." presents a step-by-step consensus planning model designed to help a group plan most anything. The workbooks are not intended for use by individuals working alone although an individual planner would follow essentially the same sequential logic. Rather, this booklet is intended as a guide to be used at group meetings, as the group proceeds.

If the members are not well-skilled in consensus methods, it is also recommended that an experienced process facilitator be added to the group.

The steps outlined here represent the key elements of the management planning process, as described by Kepner and Tregoe and Peter Drucker, blended with some of the group problem-solving techniques developed over several years by Synectics' professional staff for use with clients.

The Synectics Management Action and Review Technique has been used

successfully by management groups engaged in a variety of project planning situations. The model has lent itself quite handily to planning a new-plant start-up, a major cost reduction and performance improvement program, and the creation from scratch of a new manufacturers' association, to cite just three examples of the method's wide applicability.

As one manager who has used the process several times put it: "Whenever I come up against some knotty problem I can't solve alone, or by delegating it to some expert, that's when I get S.M.A.R.T. all over again."

GET S.M.A.R.T.

1.	Collect and analyze the relevant

facts of the situation.

We must first be fully aware of our situation, opportunity or problem before any realistic planning can be begun. First, work as a group to list all the known facts of the situation. Use "brainstorming" to quickly collect all known situational data on flip chart paper. Then seek group agreement on whether the "fact" as presented is True or False. If it is only partly True, rewrite it to be fully factual.

______________________________ T-F	______________________________ T-F
______________________________ T-F	______________________________ T-F
______________________________ T-F	______________________________ T-F
______________________________ T-F	______________________________ T-F
______________________________ T-F	______________________________ T-F
______________________________ T-F	______________________________ T-F
______________________________ T-F	______________________________ T-F
______________________________ T-F	______________________________ T-F
______________________________ T-F	______________________________ T-F
______________________________ T-F	______________________________ T-F
______________________________ T-F	______________________________ T-F
______________________________ T-F	______________________________ T-F

Synectics Management Action & Review Technique

2.	Identify and analyze underlying

assumptions about the project.

After we've gathered and reviewed such facts as may exist, we'll discover the impossibility of ever having prior access to all the facts. Some truths may be known or discovered, but the Truth, in an absolute sense, cannot be known. Therefore, we must make whatever assumptions which may be required as rationally as we can. To disregard this step is to risk proceeding on the basis of unchallenged assumptions that might be wholly erroneous. Ask the group, and post their answers:

What assumptions are you making? On what rationale? How valid is the rationale?

Assumptions	Rationale

________________________________	____________________________________

________________________________	____________________________________

________________________________	____________________________________

________________________________	____________________________________

________________________________	____________________________________

________________________________	____________________________________

________________________________	____________________________________

________________________________	____________________________________

________________________________	____________________________________

Likely Validity

(Unknown-to-absolute)

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5

GET S.M.A.R.T.

3.	Determine desired end results

(set objectives)

Next step is to be clear on where we're headed. In general terms, but specifically within the scope of the project, we'll need written objectives that describe what we want to have, do, or become. By clarifying our desired end results, we'll be able to know when the whole job is well done.

These objectives will guide our priorities in goal-setting, resource allocation, and so forth. Our statement of objectives should identify minimum results acceptable and maximum results desired.

Take care that this step does not get confused with job activities or tasks; here, we're spelling out objectives, later we'll identify the activities and tasks needed to meet these objectives.

Ask each member to first write out an objective statement on his own. Then meet and compare statements and arrive at the best possible group consensus statement. Based on the facts and rational assumptions, describe what you want to end up with: Not how you'll get it.

Synectics Management Action & Review Technique

Individual Statement: "My objective is to. . . .

Group Consensus Statement:

GET S.M.A.R.T.

4.	Develop possible alternative

courses of action.

This is brainstorming time; time to let your hair down and use your imagination freely. We must search for alternatives that aren't immediately apparent, even to the point of encouraging far-out ideas to surface. The craziest ideas sometimes contain the germ of real elegance. Remember that there is seldom a plan for which reasonable alternatives do not exist. Very often, an alternative that was not obvious at first proves to be the best one available in the end. It's important not to evaluate or judge ideas at this step; just get those ideas out.

Individual (list at least 5 alternative courses of action, whether or not they seem entirely practical or reasonable):

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Synectics Management Action & Review Technique

Group Activity (Brainstorm. Appoint

a recorder. Set a time limit. Follow

these guidelines to the letter):

•	Ask one individual to read off one of his/her alternatives.

•	On flip chart quickly record the idea verbatim.

•	No evaluations, disagreements, justifications, or arguments allowed.

•	Members speak at will (while recorder posts all ideas).

•	Members hitchhike, build-on, offer opposites, variations or non-sequiturs as they

come to mind: No holding back. Don't worry about interruptions.

•	Members get excited, enthusiastic, have fun, hang loose, sound crazy, unleash chain

of thought, make noise, use bad grammar, incomplete sentences, etc.

•	As the well starts to run dry, another member shouts out one of his alternatives

to keep the juices flowing, and so on, until all possible ideas are out and on display.

GET S.M.A.R.T.

5.	Identify and evaluate the possible

consequences of each course

of action.

Now we can evaluate all the alternatives generated in the preceding step. First, we'll discard the obvious losers. Then, we'll probably find ourselves facing a myriad of various and not-altogether – comparable trade-offs among the many possible consequences of each remaining course of action.

One way to simplify the task of weighing each alternative against the others is to use this rating system: List the consequences of each alternative, then rate each consequence (on a scale of 1-5) for the likelihood of its occurrence and the negative impact if it did occur; multiply the two ratings to

get a score for each consequence, and add the scores of all consequences to get a total score for each alternative course of action.

This total score can then be weighed against the scores of the other alternatives and compared, too, with the expected positive consequences.

Synectics Management Action & Review Technique

Alternative A:

Adverse Consequences