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Issue Trees

Breaking a big question into smaller ones that don’t overlap and together cover everything.

What is Issue Trees?

Breaking a big question into smaller ones that don’t overlap and together cover everything.

What you learn

Split a question into branches that don’t overlap and miss nothing.

When it helps

a problem is too big to tackle, or the team keeps talking past each other.

Use it at work

  1. Write the main question at the top.
  2. Split it into branches that don’t overlap.
  3. Check the branches together cover every case.
  4. Keep splitting until each question can be answered.

Your output

When a problem is big, split it into branches. Check that every case fits exactly one branch and that nothing is missing.

Watch for

Splitting a problem into branches that overlap or leave gaps.

Related practices

Sources

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