Characteristics of Good Alternatives
It’s one thing to create a list of alternatives; it’s quite another to cre-
ate good ones. A list of bad alternatives will only put you in the un-
desirable position of having to choose between two (or more) evils.
A list of good ideas produces the opposite effect.
But what, exactly, is a good alternative? As described by David
Matheson and Jim Matheson in
The Smart Organization,good alter-
natives have these characteristics:
• They are broadly constructed and not simply minor variations
of another concept.
• They are genuine alternatives that do not exist solely to make
another choice appear superior and reasonab