The IIAR> Institute of Influencer & Analyst Relations / Gartner details the MQ process

Following some debate on Quora ( How much does it cost to be included in Gartner Magic Quadrant?, do make sure you check Nancy Erskine’s answer), Lydia Leong from Gartner did publish a very useful blog post on The process of a Magic Quadrant.

Gartner’s MQ continues to be the source of much debate, mostly since it pits vendors against each others some are bound to be disappointed (a MQ with all vendors in the leaders quadrant won’t probably be of much use to IT buyers).
Gartner has overhauled the process in the last 5 years and made it quite robust now, though the weightings and ratings are still not publicised (a key difference with Forrester’s wave and IDC’s Decision matrixShort List).

No one asked for my opinions, so here they are:

it’s better to be in than not, even if in the niche quadrant
an MQ is better than a Marketscope (I don’t like rating vendors against a linear scale because it implies you should choose the one to the right)
an MQ is still only 2 dimensions (hear below Gideon Gartner on this point)
allocate enough time, about 100-120 man hours per MQ on the vendor side
make sure you manage your constituents expectations and get their support
IIAR members should read @edgyurko’s Best Practice Paper (link below)

Does this help? What is your experience? Do you have any tips?