I spent some time today chatting with a colleague about the process we've been following for what might be called "project ingest" -- specifically, when non-IT groups or individuals come to you and say "I have an idea!"....what's next?
I'm in an Academic Technologies department -- I run our projects group. We get some weird and wonderful stuff, filled with unknowns -- so a flexible and creative process that still qualifies as a process is particularly important. Before these get to me, they pass through some kind of filter -- sometimes, the filter is just "the Senior Director says 'Help this person!'", and sometimes, the filter is a group we call START. They support our course management system, and help faculty with short-term projects, particularly ones that can be fulfilled with existing off the shelf products. If we already have something that fulfills most of what they need, they try to fill it that way.
But if not...well, that's where things get interesting :). 3D Modeling? Custom programming? Experiment with a new software package for teaching? Weird new multimedia installation? Innovative technology extravaganza? Hm..........let's talk.
