Office Space Office Space Choices - Deciding Between the Two

Assuming you have done all your homework and have effectively conducted an Office Space search that has narrowed down your choice to a few properties, how do you decide whichOffice Space is best? We suggest two general methods of evaluation that can be used.

A non-numeric method to assist you in deciding on your Office Space The process is simple to describe, but not so simple to do. For each separate Office Space, consider how that Office Space would (or would not) meet each of your Office Space needs, and consider the relative importance of each such need. Then compare your results for eachOffice Space, and decide, on the whole, which Office Space most completely meets your business needs. The biggest danger in using this method is that it lets you over-focus on some items, while under-focusing, or ignoring others. If you're generally the optimistic type, you may have the tendency to overvalue the Office Space with the biggest positive aspects, even if it also has more important negative aspects. The contrary may be true if you are generally a pessimist: the existence of a few relatively negative features in a Office Space may obscure its other, more important positive features.

A numeric scoring system. The following numeric scoring system uses everything that was considered in the non-numeric system, but adds scoring elements in the hope of making its results clearer and more objective. The idea is to first assign a value (say from 1 for very poor, to 10 for very good) based on your evaluation of how well the Office Space fulfills each of your Office Space needs. Then you assign a value (say from 1, low, to 10, high) to how important this Office Space need is to the operation of your business. Finally, you multiply these two numbers for each Office Space need, and add up the results. The resulting answer for each separate Office Space can give you some idea of how well-suited the various properties are for your need.TOP

To illustrate this method, this is a simplified example property "X":

After you compute the score for Office Space "X," you would make similar computations for Office Space"Y" and property "Z". Theoretically, at least, the Office Space with the highest score would be best suited as your Office Space.

One possible weakness to the numeric comparison is that it could lead one to over-inflate the relative worth of the Office Space earning the highest score. If for instance, if Office Space "A" receives a total of 460 points, and Office Space"B" receives 450 points, does it really mean that Office Space "A" is better than Office Space "B"? Probably the two are close enough that this 10 point spread doesn't really have much significance.TOP

If you decide to use a numeric evaluation system, we strongly advise that you assign values for column #2 (importance of need) before you start to look at individual Office Space. If you do it the other way, you may have the unconscious tendency to assign higher "importance of need" priorities to items that the Office Space you favor does well in.

The best course of action may be to use both methods: do the numeric computations, but never lose sight of your more general feelings about the overall worth of a Office Space for your intended use.TOP