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PILOT APPRAISAL

A pilot appraisal is a great way to sense-check the collaborative efforts of both participants and organisers. It can be a formal or informal session, but the objective is the same: to find out what went well and what could be improved. There are many methods for achieving this, but to overcome any group shyness in expressing criticism, an approach that pairs cards explaining the methods with some sticker-dot voting works nicely. Finally, this could be paired with a secondary task of planning a future pilot using insights gained from the appraisal.

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Format MethodTimeframe 1hGroup Size AllFacilitation Level LowRequired Materials Pen and paper, Post its

Steps

  • Start with a discussion. Set up a safe environment to talk about positive experiences and frustrations with the pilot. Record everything.
  • Using flashcards, write down the titles and a short description of the stages of your campaign.
  • With sticker dots, vote on the activities that were enjoyable and useful in one colour, and the activities that were frustrating or less useful in another colour.
  • At this point, you can dive into discussions on specifics. You can disregard the more negatively rated activities, as well as suggest activities that were perhaps missing from the previous campaign. This step is a great lead into the process of planning a new pilot.

Benefits

The key to success is continuous improvement. At the end of each milestone or campaign stage, a session reflecting on the successes and failures of that milestone can go a long way to creating better campaigns in the future.

Tips

Keep in mind the following guiding question while implementing this method: what were the strengths and weaknesses of the campaign?
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