{"id":249,"date":"2014-02-04T10:00:51","date_gmt":"2014-02-04T09:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/?p=249"},"modified":"2025-09-20T20:46:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T18:46:06","slug":"how-to-select-the-best-ideas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/how-to-select-the-best-ideas\/","title":{"rendered":"Using the PMI technique to quickly and thoroughly evaluate ideas"},"content":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1758392156932{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]Hurray! Your latest brainstorm gave your team loads of ideas. That\u2019s great. However, without the tools to select the best ones, too many options can prevent implementation.<\/em><\/p>\n

Generally, you should focus on jotting down as many ideas as possible. The more ideas the better, as in creative thinking quantity leads to quality.<\/p>\n

There comes a moment, however, when you are faced with a mountain of possible approaches. When using thinking techniques, it is not uncommon to end up with hundreds of ideas to tackle one single challenge. While this is encouraging, it can easily lead to being overwhelmed by the sheer abundance of ideas. Ending up with so many ideas is all well and good, but you can\u2019t implement them all. You need a way to select<\/a><\/span> only the most promising ones from the stack.<\/p>\n

After having selected the most promising ones, you probably want to compare these winners. They all look promising, but which ones suit your goals best? Often, this isn’t immediately clear. What you need is a trick to quickly and thoroughly evaluate different ideas.<\/p>\n

The quickest and easiest way to evaluate an idea is by using \u2018PMI\u2019. This remarkably simple tool has been developed by the legendary Maltese psychologist Edward de Bono. PMI stands for Plus-Minus-Interesting and is used to quickly reach a decision while taking all factors into account.<\/p>\n

PMI<\/strong><\/h4>\n

When people are faced with a certain approach to tackle a challenge, two things often happen. They almost immediately are either very much in favour of the idea, or they are fiercely against it. When your first reaction is to favour the idea, you\u2019re likely to ignore all possible disadvantages. Similarly, if your initial response is to reject the idea, chances are you will not pay much attention to possible advantages of the approach. This isn\u2019t unwillingness. It is simply how the brain works. To function well, evolution favoured individuals who were quick to make a decision and stuck with it. Tunnel vision prevailed over considering all possibilities. While tunnel vision enables you to be very decisive, it also weakens your judgement. PMI is the solution. It lets you evaluate your ideas quickly, yet incredibly thoroughly!<\/p>\n

Using PMI, you make sure you view the idea from all possible angles. Here\u2019s how it works:<\/strong><\/p>\n

PLUS<\/strong>
\nFirst, you note all possible advantages of the idea. What benefits does this approach provide? Does it save costs or time? Will it generate lots of media coverage? Will it give your company a positive image in the eyes of the public? Focus only on advantages, however small. Ignore all thoughts that are negative; we\u2019ll get to that in a bit. Keep writing down possible positive effects for a set amount of time (3 minutes usually will do just fine). Stretch your imagination. What other benefits can you think of?<\/p>\n

MINUS<\/strong>
\nNow that you have given the plus-side of the idea some consideration, focus on the negative. Do this for exactly the same amount of time. What possible downsides does the idea contain? Maybe implementing the idea will lead to more costs. Perhaps the chance of it succeeding is very small. Implementing daring ideas can even be dangerous or illegal. Most people will find that mentioning all the disadvantages of an idea is a whole lot easier than finding the potential benefits.<\/p>\n

INTERESTING<\/strong>
\nFinally, focus on the elements of the idea that are not particularly positive or negative. What questions does the idea raise? Who will execute the idea? How much will it cost? What legislation do we need to keep in mind? What material do we use? Most ideas will raise quite a few questions. Often, the \u2018Interesting\u2019-phase focuses on the details. These are the questions that must be answered if you take the idea to the next level.<\/p>\n

After conducting a PMI on an idea, you will usually have a good indication of its viability. Some ideas you thought were pretty swell, turn out to have lots of potential drawbacks. At the same time, the \u2018stupid\u2019 idea that the entire room was laughing about might prove to have lots of advantages that initially nobody was aware of.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t let the first thought that comes to mind cloud your judgment. Consider all factors and keep looking back at your ideas, smiling.<\/p>\n

Was this blog post helpful?<\/strong>
\nDo you have any questions about this topic or about handling ideas in general?<\/p>\n

Please let me know in the comment box below.<\/span>
\nYour feedback helps us give you the information that\u2019s most valuable to you.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When using thinking techniques, it is not uncommon to end up with hundreds of ideas to tackle one single challenge. While this is encouraging, it can easily lead to being overwhelmed by the sheer abundance of ideas. You need a way to select only the most promising ones from the stack\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[21,19,24,20,23,22],"class_list":["post-249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-evaluation","tag-edward-de-bono","tag-evaluation-2","tag-ideas","tag-pmi","tag-tool","tag-tunnel-vision"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUsing the PMI technique to to quickly and thoroughly evaluate ideas<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"PMI is a neat trick to quickly & thoroughly evaluate an idea. In mere minutes, you systematically look at the positive, the negative and the interesting.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/how-to-select-the-best-ideas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Using the PMI technique to to quickly and thoroughly evaluate ideas\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"PMI is a neat trick to quickly & thoroughly evaluate an idea. In mere minutes, you systematically look at the positive, the negative and the interesting.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/how-to-select-the-best-ideas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"HatRabbits\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-02-04T09:00:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-20T18:46:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/paard2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"315\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ren\u00e9 de Ruijter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ren\u00e9 de Ruijter\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/how-to-select-the-best-ideas\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/how-to-select-the-best-ideas\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ren\u00e9 de Ruijter\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5bf0768019133e82308d2ba6ff493f0e\"},\"headline\":\"Using the PMI technique to quickly and thoroughly evaluate ideas\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-02-04T09:00:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-20T18:46:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/how-to-select-the-best-ideas\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":791,\"commentCount\":4,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/how-to-select-the-best-ideas\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/paard2.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Edward de Bono\",\"evaluation\",\"ideas\",\"PMI\",\"tool\",\"tunnel vision\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Evaluation\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/how-to-select-the-best-ideas\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/how-to-select-the-best-ideas\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/how-to-select-the-best-ideas\\\/\",\"name\":\"Using the PMI technique to to quickly and thoroughly evaluate ideas\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/how-to-select-the-best-ideas\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/how-to-select-the-best-ideas\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/paard2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-02-04T09:00:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-20T18:46:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5bf0768019133e82308d2ba6ff493f0e\"},\"description\":\"PMI is a neat trick to quickly & thoroughly evaluate an idea. In mere minutes, you systematically look at the positive, the negative and the interesting.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/how-to-select-the-best-ideas\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/how-to-select-the-best-ideas\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/how-to-select-the-best-ideas\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/paard2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/paard2.jpg\",\"width\":630,\"height\":315,\"caption\":\"PMI, a great trick to quickly and thoroughly evaluate an idea.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/how-to-select-the-best-ideas\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Using the PMI technique to quickly and thoroughly evaluate ideas\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"HatRabbits\",\"description\":\"The magic of getting ideas\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5bf0768019133e82308d2ba6ff493f0e\",\"name\":\"Ren\u00e9 de Ruijter\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/300d41b0d5252b9351a983fa0dad4bc76072471fcc0c683ea1cbde855eff89a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/300d41b0d5252b9351a983fa0dad4bc76072471fcc0c683ea1cbde855eff89a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/300d41b0d5252b9351a983fa0dad4bc76072471fcc0c683ea1cbde855eff89a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ren\u00e9 de Ruijter\"},\"description\":\"Ren\u00e9 is one of the founders of HatRabbits. His background in both law and photography enables him to shift smoothly between very different worlds and might explain his fascination with unusual combinations.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/author\\\/rene\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Using the PMI technique to to quickly and thoroughly evaluate ideas","description":"PMI is a neat trick to quickly & thoroughly evaluate an idea. In mere minutes, you systematically look at the positive, the negative and the interesting.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/how-to-select-the-best-ideas\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Using the PMI technique to to quickly and thoroughly evaluate ideas","og_description":"PMI is a neat trick to quickly & thoroughly evaluate an idea. In mere minutes, you systematically look at the positive, the negative and the interesting.","og_url":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/how-to-select-the-best-ideas\/","og_site_name":"HatRabbits","article_published_time":"2014-02-04T09:00:51+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-09-20T18:46:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":630,"height":315,"url":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/paard2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ren\u00e9 de Ruijter","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ren\u00e9 de Ruijter","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/how-to-select-the-best-ideas\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/how-to-select-the-best-ideas\/"},"author":{"name":"Ren\u00e9 de Ruijter","@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/5bf0768019133e82308d2ba6ff493f0e"},"headline":"Using the PMI technique to quickly and thoroughly evaluate ideas","datePublished":"2014-02-04T09:00:51+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-20T18:46:06+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/how-to-select-the-best-ideas\/"},"wordCount":791,"commentCount":4,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/how-to-select-the-best-ideas\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/paard2.jpg","keywords":["Edward de Bono","evaluation","ideas","PMI","tool","tunnel vision"],"articleSection":["Evaluation"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/how-to-select-the-best-ideas\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/how-to-select-the-best-ideas\/","url":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/how-to-select-the-best-ideas\/","name":"Using the PMI technique to to quickly and thoroughly evaluate ideas","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/how-to-select-the-best-ideas\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/how-to-select-the-best-ideas\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/paard2.jpg","datePublished":"2014-02-04T09:00:51+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-20T18:46:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/5bf0768019133e82308d2ba6ff493f0e"},"description":"PMI is a neat trick to quickly & thoroughly evaluate an idea. In mere minutes, you systematically look at the positive, the negative and the interesting.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/how-to-select-the-best-ideas\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/how-to-select-the-best-ideas\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/how-to-select-the-best-ideas\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/paard2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/paard2.jpg","width":630,"height":315,"caption":"PMI, a great trick to quickly and thoroughly evaluate an idea."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/how-to-select-the-best-ideas\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Using the PMI technique to quickly and thoroughly evaluate ideas"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/","name":"HatRabbits","description":"The magic of getting ideas","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/5bf0768019133e82308d2ba6ff493f0e","name":"Ren\u00e9 de Ruijter","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/300d41b0d5252b9351a983fa0dad4bc76072471fcc0c683ea1cbde855eff89a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/300d41b0d5252b9351a983fa0dad4bc76072471fcc0c683ea1cbde855eff89a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/300d41b0d5252b9351a983fa0dad4bc76072471fcc0c683ea1cbde855eff89a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ren\u00e9 de Ruijter"},"description":"Ren\u00e9 is one of the founders of HatRabbits. His background in both law and photography enables him to shift smoothly between very different worlds and might explain his fascination with unusual combinations.","url":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/author\/rene\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23574,"href":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249\/revisions\/23574"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}