Wednesday, August 05, 2009

 

Back of the Napkin and Vision vs. Execution

I thought I'd chewed enough for a while on Vision vs. Execution with my Vision vs. Idea post. Then I attended Dan Roamer's July BayCHI presentation on visual thinking and Back of the Napkin. I'd started the book a while back, but life got in the way. So, on the flight to Maui (yeah, I know), I finished reading it.

Out over the Pacific I hit Roam's SQVID and had Vision and Execution staring out of the page at me:
Roam offers SQVID as a little mnemonic for "idea focusing or audience focusing."

On the "idea focusing," going up and down the poles and across SQVID forces us to look at an idea from different points particularly those that are not our usual angles. It's something like Daniel Pink's A Whole New Mind in this regard. Roam uses SQVID on the "audience focusing" to guide the content and approach in the idea's presentation.

So many pertinent points are covered in the discussion of the Vision and Execution poles. First is a connection with what I'd suggested, Vision vs. Ideas. The exercise is to take that beginning idea and grow it, flesh it out. In this context, the Vision-Execution is only one exercise station. But the point remains: okay, you had an idea, but you need to do more.

The next point is that they're connected, it's not one or the other. Also, understanding the relationship can help in the messaging, in getting people to take action. On tuning the presentation for the audience, Roam describes it well:
Sometimes the Vision is what's needed, at others the Execution. What I suggested was the "how to get there" needs to be informed by "where we're going."

Beyond this, the book is worth a read. And it's really okay material for that trip to Maui.

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