Mon, 3 Jan 2022
We are faced with complex problems every day in our lives. There are many ways to get to a solution. Some approaches deliver incremental value over time and others are more of a “big bang” approach.
When I think of the problems we face, there are many that can be sliced in a way that delivers smaller, incremental value toward a solution.
For sake of illustration I want to talk about ending world hunger. The is a “horizontal” approach and a “vertical” approach.
A horizontal approach to breaking down the problem:
1. Red Layer – determine all the causes of world hunger and validate
2. Orange Layer – plan all the related interventions by cause and areas of the world
3. Yellow Layer – develop a resource plan and success metrics for the intervention for each cause and areas of the world
4. Green Layer – implement interventions across the world
5. Blue Layer – measure the success of these interventions
6. Violet Layer – operationalize a continuous improvement approach to support and manage the world-wide interventions over time
A vertical approach to breaking down the problem by slice the cake into consumable vertical pieces:
1. A half the cake is ending UNITED STATES hunger
2. A quarter of the cake is ending MICHIGAN hunger
3. An eighth of the cake is ending WEST MICHIGAN hunger
4. A sixteenth of the cake is ending ZIP CODE 49507 hunger
5. A thirty second of the cake of ending CENSUS TRACT 38 hunger
6. A sixty forth of the cake is ending 1735 BUCHANNAN STREET hunger
Let’s compare these two 6-step methods.
Sometimes we are overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the problem and cannot contemplate how we will ever be able to start and then get to a solution. Furthermore, the longer we take to work through each layer in this fast paced, volatile world, the more the problem continues to change and shift.
I would love your feedback on what problems we might consider tackling one small vertical slice at a time.