5. Our ideal system has...
It is time to take the brainstorming from step two and filter it through the information in steps three and four. This is when you can start putting a plan together.
(If you have not had a Phil or a video professional helping you, this might be a good time to bring one in.)
- What are your "must haves" and non-negotiables?
- Are there specific features that you need?
- Are there capabilities you really want?
- Do you prefer to have more options?
- Are you aiming for absolute simplicity?
- What ideas or features have you really fallen in love with?
- What things about the current setup need to be fixed with this update?
- Did you discover anything in step three or four that might change your plan?
Again, there are no wrong answers. In this stage the goal is to take everything talked about and start to hone it down to the essentials. Take everything on your dream list and start to rank it. Give everything a priority.
At this stage some options might start to lose their appeal or there may be solutions which no longer fit the vision. Sometimes a single feature will drive the rest of the decisions. Likely you will have a few different options to choose from, but they will each have some trade-offs and you'll need to know which features are most important to have.
This is the point where I would typically start to pull together some systems or ideas. As a consultant and installer I would be able to tell you about some options and how they might work together, or I might be able to tell you if there are features that are mutually exclusive.
Once you have features ranked, you can finally move to the final step, the one everyone has been wanting to talk about from the start. :)