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imaginative – if internet security is a potential major concern, then
perhaps low unit purchase cost should be a criterion, for example. List
the criteria in the grid.

Identify a simple scoring system – perhaps from 0 to 3, where 0 is poor
and 3 is excellent. Fill in the chart, taking care to complete one
criterion for all alternative ideas before you move to the next criterion.
Do not evaluate a single idea against all the criteria at once. This will
help you avoid the ‘horns and halo’ effect where a rating against one
criterion may bias your evaluation against other criteria. Again, you
will have to apply judgement in the scores you ascribe – decimal point
accuracy for the left-brainers is neither possible nor desirable.

Add up the totals to generate a ranking order, as in Figure 5.2.
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Product category Totals

5 : STEP THREE – EVALUATING AND SELECTING IDEAS

Computer hardware 1 1 2 1 0 5

Videos 20 3229

Music 2 0 3 3 3 11

Computer software 1 1 331 9

Books 3 3 3 2 3 14

Jewellery 13 1207

Figure 5.2 Criteria grid for evaluating product categories for online retailing

sorting the wheat from the chaff It is important to remind yourself of
the role and purpose of this coarse-screen evaluation grid. It provides
the framework to screen out the clearly less promising ideas, but it is
not intended to offer fine distinctions between ideas.

The grid does not account for all the relevant criteria – it is limited to
the ones you deem most important. It is also unlikely that you will
have at your fingertips the precise data to evaluate every idea 100 per
cent accurately. The grid is highly valuable in sorting the wheat from