Using your BRAIN to get beyond It Depends…

This paper describes an approach for framing a problem where the potential operational scope is large and diverse, and for quickly evaluating potential points in the solution-space in a manner which is easy for non-technical stakeholders to digest and interact with. The two aspects of scenario framing and concept assessment work well together but can easily be decoupled depending on the needs of the task at hand. It has been used so far on series of tasks exploring concept and pre-concept phase options in the UK Defence environment, but has wider applicability to any situation that shares similar characteristics. The scenario framing approach addresses the familiar problem of getting past stakeholder responses of it depends when they are asked to validate processes or behavioural models. The concept assessment approach, based upon the acronym BRAIN, is intended to be quick and easy to apply, supporting rapid iteration. Two case studies are used to illustrate the combined approach. Copyright © 2020 by Ian Gibson. Permission granted to INCOSE to publish and use.