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Revision as of 00:07, 20 August 2012
An issue tree, also called a logic tree, is a graphical breakdown of a question that dissects it into its different components vertically and that progresses into details as it reads to the right.
Issue trees are useful in problem solving to identify the root causes of a problem as well as to identify its potential solutions. They are a popular tool with the strategic consultancies, including McKinsey & Company[1].
Basic rules
Issue trees have four basic rules[2]:
- They consistently answer to "why" or "how"
- They progress from the key question to the analysis
- They use an independent and collectively exhaustive breakdown
- They use an insightful breakdown
Why issue trees
"Why" issue trees are diagnostic or root-cause analysis trees; these are sometimes called fault trees[3]. They answer to a "why" key question by breaking it down into its various dimensions and breaking each dimension into details. They are similar to Ishikawa diagrams although they progress into details as they read from the left to the right. These trees also incorporate the 5 whys approach as they breakdown the key question, each jump to the right corresponding to a level of why.
How issue trees
"How" issue trees share many characteristics with decision trees in that they list all possible answers to the original question and organize these in a mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive way. The two differences between a "how" issue tree and a decision tree is that -1- a decision tree spells out the expected value of each branch[4]—which is optional in an issue tree—and -2- an issue tree is more complete than a decision tree in that it also spells out the hypotheses associated with each branch, the analyses that one must carry out to test these hypotheses, and the data sources where to find the information that is needed in these analyses[5].
Issue trees can take a long time to create, sometimes days[6].
References
- ^ Watanabe, Ken. (2009). Problem Solving 101, Portfolio.
- ^ By Arnaud, on July 2nd, 2010 (2010-07-02). "Build logic trees". Powerful Problem Solving. Retrieved 2012-08-05.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Craig M. (2000). Thinking Visually. Thomson.
- ^ Česky. "Decision tree - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia". En.wikipedia.org. Retrieved 2012-08-05.
- ^ By Arnaud, on February 19th, 2011 (2011-02-19). "Use your issue tree as a decision tree". Powerful Problem Solving. Retrieved 2012-08-05.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ [1][dead link]
External links
- How to build issue trees [2]