The application of some group problem-solving approaches to project selection in research and development

There are very few situations in practice where the selection problem is simply one of choosing one or more projects from a larger set of proposals which have been previously well defined. More often than not proposals are developed in the context of a need, and their characteristics modified as they are tested against the objectives which they have to meet. For such a process to be successful it must involve many people, and it has been found in practice that a number of the group problem-solving approaches described in the literature can be of considerable value for bringing out ideas, generating alternatives, identifying important parameters, and encouraging implementation. The paper describes how these different methods can be put together to form a flexible, but systematic, method for project selection and illustrates the approach through the use of a simple example.