Needs elicitation through questionnaires and WIBGIs events with end-users

There are multiple methods to identify and assess needs, but we consider fundamental to base the methodology on the premise that those who are best-placed to see the problems of, or the inefficiencies with, a process or a service are those who work within the system delivering it on daily basis. At the same time, we know that the civil servants involved to deliver the service are typically too busy to consciously consider how the service could be transformed or could benefit from innovation, but they are skilled and perfectly prepared to do it. Here is necessary to make time to take them out of their usual working environment to participate to a brainstorming session. A very effective method that we intend to adopt to assess innovation needs is called WIBGI , being a collective exercise to complete the sentence “Wouldn’t be great/good if….”. In conducting such brainstorming sessions, we have already experimented that it’s important to involve together similar staff groups from multiple locations, in order to avoid that a perceived inefficiency or need can be related to local customs and practices and in this way could adversely affect the economies of scale that are the basis of the procurement. We will have an experienced facilitator to conduct the sessions, to draw out the issues and ideas, as well as a subject domain expert who can guide the facilitator with respect to the specialist technicalities. We have planned to organize two “WIBGI” sessions, one in Barcelona and one in Milan.