There are several standard measures or labeling systems that I have found useful in developing mind tools.  Most were created by others, and are well known.  I've used Blooms Taxonomy and Meyers Briggs Type Indicators since learning them while instructing with the Combined Arms Branch back in 1990.  The others were discovered, or created, later.    Garra 30-Oct-09

 


The Parameters

Blooms Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain		Classifies cognitive complexity of learning, evaluating, and thinking.Useful for expressing instructional goals, teaching & testing difficulty levels, and performance. More precise than “Crawl-Walk-Run” or similar labeling systems.
Intelligence Creation Loop		Expands the Intelligence Cycle to show the key underlying processes in creating Intelligence.   Useful for showing the place within the Big Picture of a product. Part of the article Creating Intelligence.
Meyers-Briggs Type Indicators (MBTI)		Classifies personality types.  Useful for describing teaching and learning styles,  and preferred problem solving approaches.
Costikyan Game Parameters		Classifies the elements comprising a Game.  Useful in determining if a product is a game, toy, puzzle, story or something else, and for classifying / evaluating the internal workings of a game.
Constructivist Design Principles		Principles which describe the elements of Constructivist Design within a product.   Useful as a developer’s guidelines, checklist, and for product evaluation.
Spectrum of Collaboration		Draft classification system for degrees of collaboration.  Useful for precisely describing the nature of collaboration desired for a group effort.
Innovation Evaluation System		How Experts within a Domain of Knowledge can quickly tell if a new idea is truly revolutionary... or just an incremental improvement.

Using the Parameters.

Before starting a project, use Blooms Taxonomy to determine the level of complexity expected from the users.  Get concensus!  It’s nice to want high levels in Blooms – and there are great benefits! – but there is also a high cost in terms of time and effort and failure rate.

Determine what specific part of the Intel Creation Loop is enhanced by the product.  â€œAll Of It” means you either have a killer app or you are too stupid to understand what you are doing.  While we ultimately produce Intelligence for the Commander and Staff, every Intelligence tool is not for use by the commander!  Make this a part of every briefing where you talk about some project... you'll be amazed at how many people will thank you for it!

What MBTI learning styles does the product orient on?  Most leaders are SJ.  Most analysts are NT.  If you expect the student to produce products for consumption by others, you might want to explain how MBTI effects what those “others” will expect.

See how many of the Costikyan Game Parameters you can embed into the product.  The more you can make it like a game, the more interesting it will be and the more the user will retain.  If he considers the product a Fun Game, you may be onto something big!

Constructivist principles will help you design and develop and build products that are more constructing than feeding, more discovery rather than delivery, active rather than passive, with answers that are better rather than right, and collaborative/interactive rather than solitaire.

Do you want soldiers to interact as part of the product?  The Spectrum of Collaboration will help you define and explain the amount and nature of the interaction.


Misusing the Parameters.  

Like the Principles of War, the above are neither all inconclusive or prescriptive or a recipe for success.  Use them as Guidelines for brainstorming, designing, developing, evaluating, assessing, debating, justifying.