Consulting toolkit structuring the problem

CONSULTING TOOLKIT

Setting up the Problem Solving

Structuring the Problem

© 2007-2012 IESIES Development Ltd. All Ltd. Reserved
© 2007-2012 Development Rights All Rights Reserved

Most important questions are too broad to analyse

“How can
we achieve
world peace?”

© 2007-2012 IES Development Ltd. All Rights Reserved

An issue tree is a useful tool to break down problems into chunks
small enough to manage

Issue Tree

Starts with a
problem and
decomposes it

Use at the start of problem solving to
structure a fuzzy problem


An issue tree has three purposes

1) Break a problem down to small enough chunks to enable
analysis to answer the smaller questions

2) Open up the solution space to help you see new angles to
the problem

3) Get everyone up to speed quickly on the problem


To create an issue tree, you break down a question into smaller
questions that are independent and complete
How you can achieve Sub Issue 1a
this? Continue breaking down issues
Issue 1 Sub Issue 1b until you have one small enough
to analyse
Sub Issue 1c
Break it down into
components Sub Issue 2.a.i
Sub Issue 2a Sub Issue 2.a.ii
Sub Issue 2.a.iii
Open
Question Issue 2 Sub Issue 2b

Big Open Sub Issue 2c
Question:
What or How
…..?
Sub Issue 3a

Issue 3 Sub Issue 3b

Sub Issue 3c
Branches must be INDEPENDENT and COMPLETE
MECE (Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive) Reserved
© 2007-2012 IES Development Ltd. All Rights

You are finished when you have questions small enough that
you can imagine analyses that would answer them
Issue Tree for “How do I get a good final grade ethically?”
Team
Team Improve exam technique
selection
grades Grades for a
Research prior exams
How do I get a good specific team
final grade on the Pay attention in class
courses I select? Exams/tests
Do reading
Class
participation
Individual Create study group
grades Peers
Revise at last minute
How do I get a Projects
good final grade
ethically? Assignments

Pick courses that are Don’t take exemptions
easy for you Pick easy electives
How do I get a good
final grade through
course selection?
Pick courses with professors
who grade high

There are eight steps to generate an issue tree

1) Write down the question/problem you are solving

2) Quickly brainstorm possible solutions

3) Organise and group the solutions logically, moving between general
and specific thinking. Phrase each level as QUESTIONS.

4) Expand branches of your tree, by seeing additional solutions to
generic questions

5) Prune branches of your tree where you can rule out solutions

6) Move important issues up the tree, shift minor issues down the tree

7) Try out different “cuts” to test which provides more insight

8) Revisit the question

Productive brainstorming needs some team rules

 No discussion – especially no judgement/criticism
 Quantity more important than quality
 Encourage “silly’ ideas
 Brainstorm with a diverse group
 Record everything
 Everyone joins in
 Make it fun!

PRACTICAL TIP: Use Post-Its, 1 idea per Post-It, call out and stick-up


Encourage “silly” ideas in brainstorming – it is easier for ideas to
roll “downhill” than “uphill”

“Silly”
ideas

It is easy to
make a silly idea
High more practical
value, creative
ideas

It is very hard to
make an obvious
Obvious idea creative
ideas

You only learn how to use issue trees by doing………
STAGE 1: Write down the question

Big Open
Question:
What or How
…..?

How do I get
a good final
grade?

Issue Tree for “How do I get a good final grade?”

The second stage is to brainstorm all possible answers in order
to open up the solution space
STAGE 2: Brainstorm answers

•Work with good teams
•Participate in class fully
•Suck up to the professor
•Bribe the professor
How do I get •Hack the IT system
a good final •Cheat in exams
grade? •Pick courses with professors who grade high
•Pick courses that are easy for you
•Study hard
•Create a study group/partner

Issue Tree© for “How do Ltd.get aReserved final grade?”
2007-2012 IES Development
I All Rights good

The third stage is to organise and group these possible
solutions, generalising common types and building a draft tree
STAGE 3: Organise and Group
How do I get a good •Pick courses with professors who
final grades through grade high
course selection? •Pick courses that are easy for
How do I get a you
good final grade
ethically?
How do I get a good •Work with good teams
final grade ethically on •Participate in class fully
the courses I select? •Study hard
•Create a study group
How do I get
a good final ETHICAL/UNETHICAL COURSE SELECTION/
grade? CUT PERFORMANCE CUT

Be unethical in •“Free-load” on good teams
assessments •Cheat in exams
How do I get a good
Influence the •Suck up to the professor
final grade
professor’s grade •Bribe the professor
unethically?
Change the grade
afterwards •Hack the IT system
Branches must be INDEPENDENT and COMPLETE
(Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive)

I All Rights good

The fourth stage is to expand branches, identifying additional
solutions to make the tree complete
STAGE 4: Expand branches
final grade through grade high
How do I get a you
good final grade
ethically? Team Project grades
How do I get a good Team Assignment grades
final grade ethically on Individual Assignment grades
How do I get the courses I select? Class participation grades
a good final Branches must be INDEPENDENT and COMPLETE Exam/Test grades
grade? (Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive) •Get someone else to use your
nametag
•Plagiarise projects
How do I get a good
final grade
unethically? •Threaten professor
Change the grade
•Appeal

2007-2012 IES Development I All Rights good

The fifth stage is to prune branches that you want to eliminate
from the solution space
STAGE 5: Prune branches
final grade through grade high
How do I get a you
good final grade
ethically? Team Project grades
How do I get a good Team Assignment grades
final grade ethically on Individual Assignment grades
the courses I select? Class participation grades
How do I get Exam/Test grades
a good final How does the question change
•Get someone else to use your
grade? when you prune branches?
nametag
•Plagiarise projects
How do I get a good
final grade
unethically? •Threaten professor
Change the grade
•Appeal

I All Rights good

The sixth stage is to shift cuts up and down the tree
STAGE 6: Move up and down the tree
Team
Team selection Improve exam technique

grades Grades for a specific
How do I get good team
grades ethically on Pay attention in class
the courses I select? Exam/test
Do reading
Class
Individual participation Create study group
grades
How do I get Revise at last minute
Project
a good final
grade Assignment
ethically?

How do I get a good
final grade through
course selection?
who grade high

Issue Tree for “How IES Development Ltd. All Rights Reserved grade ethically?”
© 2007-2012 do I get a good final

The seventh stage is to try different cuts on the issues to see
which one is most useful
STAGE 7: Try different cuts
Team
selection
grades Grades for a specific
How do I get a good team
Do reading
Class
grades
How do I get Revise at last minute
Projects
a good final What other cuts could you use?
grade Assignments
ethically?
…..by not taking exemptions
How can I get a gfge by I could?
picking courses that are …by picking electives that
How do I get a good easy for me? are easy for me?
final grade through
course selection?
How can I get a gfge by picking
courses with professors who grade
high?

The final stage is to revisit the question. Is it the right one?
STAGE 8: Revisit the question
Team
selection
grades Grades for a specific Research prior exams
How do I get a good team
Do reading
Class
grades
Revise at last minute
How do I get a good What could be a Projects
final grade better question?
ethically? Assignments

How do I get a good
final grade through
course selection?

who grade high

There are many different dimensions you can use to cut a
problem up in your issue tree
Time based: Before/During/After
Existing/New: Existing customer/Potential customer
Existing products/new products
Existing business/new business
Organisational: Business 1, 2,3,4….
Segment 1,2,3,4…
Channels 1,2,3,4…
Product 1,2,3,4…
Country 1,2,3,4…

Frameworks: Marketing: 4Ps
Organisational – 7S
Portfolio: Attractiveness/Our advantage
Financial:Revenue/Cost/Capital
Distinctions: Supply/demand
Quality/quantity
Ethical/unethical
Process: Value chain (producer; distributor; retailer; user)
Step 1,2,3,4

If you can master issue trees, no fuzzy ambiguous problem need
ever worry you again

The biggest challenges:
 Moving between generalisations and specifics
 Ensuring your branches are MECE

 It can take a team half a day to create the best issue tree on a complex project. Usually
time well invested, since the better the tree, the less work will be wasted. But STOP when
you hit diminishing returns!

 Iterate – while doing it, you see another way of cutting it, each generating different
insights.

 The issue tree maps out your work plan – your analysis focuses on finding facts to answer
the questions at the far end of the tree

 The issue tree also is a good structure for your “deliverable” (see Pyramid Principle)

 BEST LEARNT BY DOING – practice issue
trees in every case from now on!

An issue tree for a full consulting project could have 5
levels, over 30 sub-issues and take the team a day to get right
McKinsey example: UK Childcare project

Source: http://interactive.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/strategy/survivalguide/index.htm

The only way to learn to use issue trees is by practicing

Class Exercise:

Create an issue tree for

How can drug*
problems be
reduced?

*Limit scope to illegal drugs (e.g. ketamine, e, cocaine, heroin) , not pharmaceutical, alcohol, tobacco

The only way to learn to use issue trees is by practicing

Class Exercise:

Create an issue tree for

How can we solve
the world’s
environmental
problems?

Issue Tree for “How can drug problems be reduced?”
Influence government “Regime change”
How can we reduce Provide resources
supply in growing Influence processors
countries? Influence farmers
Crop destruction
How can we Incentives to grow
How can we stop drugs Detection technology
reduce the International cooperation
other crops
in transit?
supply of
How can we drugs?
How can we increase the
chance of dealers being
How can we stop
reduce the drug distribution in
caught?

quantity of drug user countries? How can we increase the
consequences of being caught?
Tax

use? How can we punish Seize drug dealer
How can we users more? How can we reduce the rewards assets
reduce the How can we help users
of dealing?
Money laundering
demand for recognise the real costs Education
How can drug drugs? and benefits? Advertising Competition
problems be
Medical Research
reduced? How can we reduce the
benefits for users?
How can we improve anti-
addiction treatments?
How can we help users
How can we recover from drugs?
How can we improve
rehabilitation clinics? Develop new drugs
reduce the
impact of How can we make drugs safer
Hand out clean needles
How can we reduce the and healthier?
drug-use? dangers of drug-use?
How can we encourage Incentivise Quality Control
switching to less harmful
How can we reduce the side- drugs?
effects of drug-use (e.g.
gangs, crime, prostitution) All Rights Reserved
© 2007-2012 IES Development Ltd.

Once you have completed your issue tree, check that it will help
you structure the problem

•Are we answering the right question?

•Are the branches complete? Have possible solutions been left
out?
•Are the branches independent? Will the overlaps make discrete
analysis difficult?
•Is this cut of the tree useful? What other cuts can you imagine
that might shed different light on the problem?
•Can you immediately cut off branches of the tree by reducing
scope?
•Go through every sub-issue at the end of the issue tree. Can you
imagine a fact-based analysis to answer each one of them, or are
they still too vague?


Sources to learn more about using issue trees

Cambridge University Engineering Department
http://www2.eng.cam.ac.uk/~mpj1001/MJ_teaching_pg.html

http://interactive.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/strategy/survivalguide/skills/s_issue.htm


Consulting toolkit structuring the problem

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