What's on your radar

Unveil hidden insights, prioritize effectively, and foster meaningful discussions with the "What's on Your Radar?" exercise. This participatory research tool empowers individuals to express their perspectives, preferences, and priorities. By plotting items on a visual chart, you can identify key issues, allocate resources wisely, and understand diverse viewpoints.

Discover What Matters Most: Create Your "What's on Your Radar?" Diagram

TL;DR

Prioritize Effectively: Create a 'What's on Your Radar?' Diagram to Uncover Perspectives and Drive Discussions. Discover how this participatory research exercise empowers individuals to express their priorities and assess relevance. Download our free worksheet PDF to start visualizing what matters most.

What is "What's on Your Radar?"

"What's on Your Radar?" is an exercise commonly used in participatory research. It involves asking individuals to identify and plot items or elements based on their personal significance or importance. Participants may be provided with a visual representation, such as a radar chart or a grid, where they can place items based on their subjective assessment of relevance or priority.

This exercise encourages participants to express their perspectives, preferences, and priorities, and can be valuable in various contexts, such as identifying key issues, determining resource allocation, or understanding divergent viewpoints. It helps researchers or facilitators to uncover individual or collective perceptions, prioritize areas of focus, and stimulate discussions on the significance of different factors or considerations.

Creating a "What's on Your Radar?" diagram

Here are the steps explained for creating a "What's on Your Radar" diagram:

Label the diagram
Begin by labeling the radar diagram. Choose a central task or problem that you aim to solve and write it in the space above the radar. This central task will serve as the focal point for the exercise.

Mark the corners
Divide the radar diagram into sections by marking each corner with themes related to the central task. These themes represent different categories, such as barriers and enablers, that are relevant to the task at hand. Assign importance to each theme based on its relevance to the central task.

Input views and prioritize
Start by inputting views onto the diagram. Use digital sticky notes or other means to write down topics or phrases that are top of mind for each theme. These views represent different perspectives or considerations related to the themes. Place the sticky notes on the diagram based on their importance. Generally, the closer to the center of the radar, the more important the view is to you. Consider using different colors for each user to distinguish their inputs.

Review and record
Once all the views are placed on the diagram, review the overall layout. The What's On Your Radar diagram now serves as a visual record of the most important topics or perspectives at that particular time. It provides a snapshot of what was prioritized and considered significant.

Repeat the exercise periodically
To stay consistent and monitor your project's progress, it is recommended to repeat this exercise every 3-6 months. This allows you to update the diagram with new information, track changes in priorities, and adapt your approach accordingly.


By following these steps and regularly revisiting the exercise, you can maintain a dynamic understanding of what is important and shape the trajectory of your project based on evolving perspectives and priorities.

Get started

Download our free worksheet PDF today!

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Adam Paulisick

Founder at SKILLBUILDER & maadlabs.io (fmr @BCG @Nielsen — acquired 3x). Prof @teppercmu, MHCI & exec ed at Gates School of Comp Sci. Founder @TheShopPgh

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