(2019-06-19) The Punk Strategy Guide To The Logical Thinking Process

Michael Fogelman (Tasshin Fogelman): The Punk Strategy Guide to the Logical Thinking Process. In the 1980’s an Israeli physicist named Eli Goldratt shifted his attention to business. The most well known result of his efforts and studies was the Theory of Constraints.

Towards the end of his career, Goldratt generalized the Theory of Constraints into an even more fundamental framework: The Logical Thinking Process (LTP). The Logical Thinking Process can be used to reliably understand and solve complicated and complex systems problems.

The best introduction to the Thinking Processes that I’ve found is William Dettmer’s book, The Logical Thinking Process. It’s a terrific book, and I’m extremely grateful Dettmer wrote it.

He implies that for best results, you will use the Logical Thinking Process in sequence. For myself, I’ve found it useful to learn and use each tool individually. I hereby empower you to do the same. You can be the judge of which tool seems interesting or useful to you.

This article hopes to be an irreverent, stick-it-to-the-man introduction to the Logical Thinking Process. I’ll discuss the three tools that I’ve found most useful: conflict resolution diagrams, implementation trees, and problem trees

Making Diagrams

First, let me share a note on how to actually use the tools in the Logical Thinking Process. With each tool, you create visual diagrams to represent and clarify your own thinking, and to share it with others

There are a few software options, but my favorite is Flying Logic, which was specially designed for using the Logical Thinking Process

Unfortunately, Flying Logic is quite expensive – $269.00 –

If you like using software but need a more affordable option, Miro

I’ll start with the tool that has been far and away the most useful for me: conflict resolution diagrams. If you learn just one of the tools, learn this one.

Conflict Resolution Diagrams (Evaporating Cloud Diagrams)

You’re at the office, debating the merits of a proposed plan of a coworker. Whatever the topic – buy or don’t, sell or don’t, hire or fire – things are tense.

Then fast forward some amount of time. Maybe it’s ten minutes or two days later. Somehow, magically, confusingly, the situation has changed.

They may seem like magic. And in a way, they are. The solution you find is something no one could have imagined or considered before the conversation.

It turns out that there’s a skill to arriving at these solutions. We can learn to recognize conflict, and improve our ability to listen to others within that conflict. Hearing both sides, we can become better and better at uncovering and questioning the assumptions latent in conflict. With that understanding, we can create novel solutions that meet everyone’s needs. In other words, it’s possible for everyone to be happy.

Conflict resolution diagrams (originally termed evaporating clouds) are useful any time that you notice a seemingly unresolvable conflict in any aspect or area of your life.

Uncover what needs are behind each proposal

Identify a goal that both needs meet, 0, such as profitability. Take a moment to notice everyone’s on the same team, with the same goal.

Ask one or more of the following questions as generative prompts:
Is there a way to meet need 1, without doing X?
Is there a way to meet need 2, while doing X?

They are my go to tool for any kind of conflict, whether it’s personal or professional, interpersonal or internal.

Problem Trees (Current Reality Trees)

at other times, you have many problems. This is exactly the kind of situation where Problem Trees, or CRT’s, come in handy.

The basic premise of this tool is that when there are multiple problems – what Dettmer calls undesirable effects or UDE’s – there is a casual relationship between them.

There might be one or more vicious feedback loops where one problem causes another problem which reinforces the first problem. Ultimately, those undesirable effects can be tracked down to a small number of root causes or even one root cause. Those root causes are often subtle, non-obvious, and even counter-intuitive.

For me, CRT’s have a therapeutic effect. If a situation is at the point where I think to use one, it usually means there are a lot of problems, and I’m feeling stressed, overwhelmed, or worse. Above all, I don’t even know where to start. Just having a good map of the muddy territory often makes me feel better, and helps me identify one or two solutions to my problems which might just have a decent chance of making things better.

Implementation Trees (Pre-Requisite Trees)

*I have a special term for a specific kind of work project: headaches. These projects have multiple steps, usually require the input and participation of several people, and tend to take place over weeks or months... these projects aren’t particularly hard, they’re just— stressful.

implementation trees are like over-the-counter pain relief. They help you get from here to there...

Implementation trees have three kinds of nodes. First, they have a goal, like moving to a new city or holding a successful event.

Along the way, there are milestones

Lastly, there are sometimes obstacles holding up particular milestones

Here’s how to make a implementation tree:

• List your goal. Although Dettmer doesn’t account for this in the book, I’ve sometimes found it useful to split my trees into multiple goals. For example, when I’ve used implementation trees to move, I split the goal into three distinct stages: Move Out of Old Location, Move Into New Location, and Feel Settled
• List milestones needed to accomplish the goal.
• Connect cause and effect relationships between milestones and the goal.
• Add any challenges you’ll need to overcome to achieve specific milestones. Connect these to the relevant milestones.

For important projects, I typically create a recurring task in my task manager to review the implementation tree

I also like to keep the trees neat and tidy, which, for me, means deleting milestones as they happen. This, however, makes it difficult to view the history of the project during or after its completion.

When Tiago gave me the project to work on, he gave me three months to try to do it – the project had been stalled for months, and we weren’t even sure if it could even be done. After creating an implementation tree, I was able to complete the project in three weeks.

Trigger -> Tool
Many Problems -> Problem Tree
Conflict, Arguments -> Conflict Resolution Diagram
“Headaches”: complicated projects -> Implementation Tree