Harris profile
What
A Harris profile is a visual representation of the strengths and weaknesses of an idea or a draft solution.
Why
A Harris profile tests ideas or draft solutions based on a number of criteria and represents this visually. Drawing up a Harris profile for several ideas or draft solutions allows you to evaluate and compare them easily.
How
- Identify the five to ten main criteria for assessing an idea or a draft solution.
- Develop the structure of a Harris profile. This is a table in which the rows contain the criteria and the columns contain the assessment of these criteria. Each row contains four columns or blocks: -2, -1, +1, +2. See the sample template.
- Draw up a Harris profile for each idea or draft solution you want to evaluate. On the basis of each criterion, evaluate the idea or the draft solution for its expected effect. In case of excellent performance: +2; in case of very poor performance: -2; or give an in-between mark. Use the sample template if you wish.
- Colour the blocks to make the assessment come out visually. If the criteria are equally important, you could add up the scores for each component to arrive at an overall score for the idea or draft solution.
- Juxtapose the Harris profiles for each idea or draft solution, compare them and reflect on them. What are their strong suits? How can weaknesses be addressed? Which idea or draft solution appears best?
- Select the ideas or draft solutions considered best in order to develop them further.