How a question becomes an answer
Every engagement follows the same four steps and keeps one document up to date: the issue tree, marked up as the evidence comes in.
How an engagement runs
Four steps, in this order, over eight to ten weeks. You see the tree at the end of week one and every week after.
1
Frame the question
Week 1
One sentence the board agrees on, the decision it serves and the date the answer is needed.
2
Split it into issues
Week 1
A tree with no gaps and no overlaps. Each branch has one consultant who owns it.
3
Test the likely answers first
Weeks 2 to 7
Interviews, your data and site visits, aimed at the hypotheses most likely to hold.
4
Recommend and hand over
Weeks 8 to 10
A short written answer, the evidence for each step and a plan your managers can run.
How to read a tree
Each leaf is a hypothesis that data can confirm or rule out. The marks show where the work stands; the red ring shows what we tested first and why.
Sample tree: a software company, 400 staff
Week 4 of 8
Why do customers leave in their first year?
The product does not fit
Customers bought the wrong plan for their size Confirmed, tested first
A key feature is missing for one industry Still to test
Getting started is too hard
Set-up takes more than thirty days Confirmed
Training is only offered in English Ruled out
A rival is cheaper
Customers who left moved to a lower-priced rival Ruled out
Confirmed Still to test Ruled out Tested first
Confirmed
The data and the interviews agree. This branch is part of the answer.
Still to test
Plausible, not yet checked. It stays on the tree until it is.
Ruled out
Checked and not true. We keep it visible so nobody re-opens it.
Tested first
The one most likely to hold, or the cheapest to check. Circled in red pencil.
What we need from you
One sponsor who owns the question, two hours a week of their time, and access to the people and figures behind each branch.
- A sponsor from your leadership team
- Sales, cost and headcount data for two or three years
- Interviews with eight to fifteen managers
- A weekly 45-minute review of the tree
Bring us the question you cannot answer yet
Write it down in a sentence or two. A partner reads it, calls you within two working days and tells you honestly whether a two-week diagnostic would help.