# COCD Box

This method provides a good visualization of a complex world with complex ideas. The COCD box is an idea selection technique (according to Mark Raison 1995), which transfers the collected ideas into a grid and prioritizes them qualitatively and quantitatively.

# Subject

Delivering business and customer values/Product development

# Definition

With this method, all collected ideas are evaluated according to two criteria. First: How difficult is their implementation. Second: How high is the degree of originality. Throw away those ideas that are not very original and which are difficult to implement, regardless of their origin.

# Motivation

This method supports the agile team in planning its product roadmap both in the short-term and long-term. The team brainstorms and sketches a clear picture of the features and releases they have to deal with in the future. The product owner can also prioritize the product backlog and the product roadmap together with the stakeholders/sponsors by using the COCD box. It ensures that the organization's focus is primarily on delivering value to customers.

# Procedure

The facilitator draws the COCD box on a flipchart/whiteboard. It consists of four quadrants (fields). The vertical axis contains the fields "feasible" and "not (yet) feasible". The horizontal axis contains the fields "common ideas" and "original ideas". Ideas that are very original and easy to implement, i.e. those that are real "WOW" ideas, are the most important and valuable. If the team only has one or two WOW ideas and they're only affecting the fringes of your business, take a look at the "NOW" ideas next. These are those that are easy to implement, but have only a low degree of originality and therefore may soon lose their appeal. You should tackle these now. Finally, deal with the "HOW" ideas. Those are the ideas with a high degree of originality, but which are difficult to implement or for which the team does not yet know how to implement them. You keep these ideas with all the material that you have already accumulated during the creative activity. You can then bring up the HOW ideas at the next creative session. They then will already recognize more how you can realize these original ideas. Each participant receives a jointly defined number of glue dots (e.g., two per each color) to select their favorites. Then, the group scores points together and selects the favorites from the mass of ideas, whereby the moderator makes sure that the participants submit their points "uninfluenced" (they do not deliberately wait until others have scored first in order to "save their points"). Then, all the ideas that have received points are grouped in the three categories of the COCD box.

# Participants

The whole team / project sponsors

# Tools

Whiteboard / flipchart

# See also

Centrum voor de Ontwikkeling van het Creatief Denken