Structuring Business Problems
My framework for breaking down ambiguous business challenges into solvable pieces.
The hardest part of solving a business problem isn't the analysis—it's defining the actual problem in the first place.
The Problem
Clients rarely present a clean problem statement. They present symptoms: 'Profits are down', 'Delivery is slow', or 'Customers are churning'. Jumping straight to solutions without structuring the problem leads to superficial fixes.
The Breakdown
- The Situational Assessment: What is going on, and why does it matter right now?
- MECE Trees: Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive. Breaking the problem down to ensure no overlaps and no gaps.
- Hypothesis Generation: Proposing data-driven educated guesses before diving into the numbers.
In Practice
"During a charity transformation project, the 'problem' was framed as low operational efficiency. By structuring the problem into a MECE framework, we realized the core issue wasn't the operations themselves, but the lack of aligned KPIs driving those operations."
The Takeaway
Never accept a problem at face value. Structure it, break it down, and solve the root cause, not the symptom.
Project Delivery Visibility Checklist
A practical checklist for improving project visibility across schedules, risks, actions, financial tracking, and stakeholder reporting.
- Identify delivery risks, blockers, and reporting gaps earlier
- Structure RAID logs, actions, owners, and governance updates clearly
- Improve stakeholder visibility through consistent PMO reporting
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