Breakdown Process & Phases
There are many different approaches you can take to flesh out your topic, but it can be hard to know where to start, and as your topic gets larger, it can become easier to lose focus on where to go next.
The phases described below are a way of guiding you through breaking down a topic. It can be helpful for staying focused to stick to one phase at a time, and move to another phase when you feel like you’ve finished getting all the information down related to your current phase.
If you have a problem to break down, you might go through these phases mostly top-to-bottom. If you have a proposal to break down, you might skip Problem Phases or go through it after the Solution Phases. Generally, you can switch between phases as you’d like but it can be helpful for focus to not jump around too much.
Note that you’ll likely benefit from occasionally jumping to the Ad-hoc Phases when it seems useful to re-build focus and clarify disagreements, definitions, unknowns, or other relevant details.
Initial Thoughts Phase
Brain dump
- Brain dump initial thoughts & big ideas about the topic (fit these into relevant nodes)
- Node types: all (whatever is relevant)
Problem Phases
Brainstorm problems
- If the topic is more of a category of problems rather than a specific problem, consider what high-level/big problems exist for the topic.
- Node types: Problem
Brainstorm causes
- What causes the problem(s)? What causes the causes? Consider something like the 5 Whys .
- Node types: Causes
Brainstorm problem detriments
- Why is the problem a problem? What negative effects does it create? Consider effects of effects, similar to the 5 Whys for causes. Consider various groups of people that may be affected in different ways.
- Node types: Detriment, Effect
Brainstorm problem benefits
- Does the problem actually have some positive effects? Specifying these can help cover all bases.
- Node types: Benefit, Effect
Solution Phases
Brainstorm solutions
- If you’ve laid out problems: what can be done to address the problems/causes/detriments?
- Node types: Solution
Identify solution components
- Break down the solution into components - what are the pieces/aspects of it? What is needed to implement it?
- Node types: Solution Component
Brainstorm solution benefits
- What good effects are created by the solution or its components? How do the solution and its components address the problems/causes/detriments?
- Node types: Benefit, Effect
Brainstorm solution downsides
- What’s bad about the solution or its pieces? What negative effects are created? What obstacles impede the solution or its components from being implemented? What could go wrong?
- Node types: Detriment, Effect, Obstacle
Brainstorm mitigations
- What can be done to reduce the downsides of the solution or its components?
- Note: instead of adding mitigations, you can change the solution’s components such that the downsides aren’t relevant anymore (this can sometimes be cleaner than having mitigations separately)
- Node types: Mitigation, Mitigation Component, Benefit, Solution Component
Consider tradeoffs
- If you want to compare solutions for a problem, or you want to make a decision, you can consider the tradeoffs.
- Convert the good & bad aspects of each solution into criteria that can be evaluated in the Criteria Table. For each solution: what makes it good? What makes it bad?
- Score how well each solution fulfills each criterion to get a feel for how the solutions compare.
- Node types: Criterion
Ad-hoc Phases
Scoring
- When: thoughts or discussion needs focus, unsure where to go next, or to identify disagreement
- What: each person apply scores on their own for nodes and/or edges; if in a group, compare scores and discuss reasoning for differences
- Node types: all (whatever is relevant for the provided reasoning, could be effects, could be supports/critiques, questions, etc.)
Brainstorm questions, unknowns, uncertainties
- When: can be after any brainstorming, or between phases, to be thoughtful/skeptical
- What: consider: what are we unsure about? What don’t we know? What would be good to investigate/find out/learn about?
- Node types: Question
Googling/research
- When: questions feel important to answer, or knowledge feels too limited
- What: look for answers to questions, add relevant facts & sources and update other nodes based on newfound info
- Node types: Fact, Source, also all (whatever is relevant that’s found)