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Opportunities

Opportunities are everywhere

Just because we can do something doesn't mean we should. A key function of EAR is bringing people together to discuss opportunities and transform shared understanding of potential opportunities based on real-world problems through multiple stages of discovery and conversation.

Explore an opportunity

Each action research cycle begins with conversation to identify a preliminary diagnosis, gather data, and plan further inquiry. The following inputs are considered during exploration:

  • Landscape and motivation: What are the challenges and problems identified?
  • Participant stakeholders: Who is affected? What are their roles, needs, desires, challenges, pain points, and hopes for the future?
  • Opportunity: What are desirable outcomes of this inquiry?
  • Data sources: What data or research exists today that may be relevant?
  • Subject matter experts: What expertise or community of practice may add value to the line of inquiry? Who can be invited?
  • Scope: Describe a scenario and various situations to focus the effort.
  • Assumptions, risks, constraints: What are the potential risks and mitigating factors?
  • Activities, deliverables and timeline: Identify key milestones, touch points, and deliverables. Time box the effort.

You are welcome to start an opportunity summary to kick off an exploration process for a specific opportunity area. We recommend that you schedule a kick off call either with a workshop format to surface the above, or to review an existing draft. Seeking advice and participation from EAR members is a good way to incorporate multiple perspectives early.