# The Logical Thinking Process **H. William Dettmer** | [[Action]] ![rw-book-cover](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51nwIXfLm8L._SL200_.jpg) --- > "It is a simple thing to make things complex, but a complex task to make them simple." The Logical Thinking Process is the Theory of Constraints applied to problem-solving. It's a systematic method for moving from an ill-defined problem to a fully implemented solution—one that's bullet-proofed to the extent possible. The method answers four questions every leader needs to know: Why should I change? What should I change? What should I change to? How do I make the change happen? The power is in the structured logic. Five interconnected trees, each with a specific purpose, each building on the last. It's rigorous without being rigid—the trees impose logical discipline while remaining readable in plain language. --- ## Core Ideas ### [[The Five Logic Trees]] > "The LTP is comprised of five separate logic trees. Each one has a specific purpose." 1. **Goal Tree** – Where do we want to be? Establishes the benchmark for system performance. 2. **Problem Tree (Current Reality)** – Where are we actually, and why is there a difference? Identifies root causes. 3. **Conflict Resolution Diagram (Evaporating Cloud)** – What prevents us from curing the problem now, and how do we overcome it? 4. **Solution Tree (Future Reality)** – What can we expect to happen if we apply the fix? 5. **Implementation Tree (Prerequisite)** – How do we make the solution happen? The Goal Tree is the most important. It establishes the entry point for analysis—the benchmark against which everything else is measured. Without clarity on where you want to be, you can't diagnose where you actually are. ### [[Goal Tree Structure]] A Goal Tree has three components: - **Goal** – One measurable outcome at the top. Long-term, visible indicator of mission accomplishment. - **Critical Success Factors** – A limited set (three to five) of high-level outcomes that collectively constitute goal attainment. - **Necessary Conditions** – What's required to realise each critical success factor. The Goal Tree is strategy in visual form. By concentrating attention on the desired outcome and what it takes to achieve it, it provides a roadmap for the system. ### [[The Evaporating Cloud]] Conflicts can be resolved three ways: imposed by power, compromised (neither side gets what they want), or crafted so both sides are fully satisfied. The third way is hard because people don't understand what the other side really wants, don't fully understand what they want themselves, and don't know how to craft a mutual win. The Conflict Resolution Diagram doesn't represent reality—it represents assumptions about reality. Most significant conflicts in human history, from wars to individual arguments, are founded on mistaken assumptions. The key is to expose as many assumptions as possible, then identify which are invalid. The questionable assumptions are the gateway to breaking the conflict. ### [[Implementation as Project]] > "Consider the implementation of a significant systemic change to be a project. Success requires three things: Performance (the change has to do what it was intended to do), Schedule (it has to happen in the reasonably near future), and Cost (it must not break the budget)." This is simple but often forgotten. A brilliant solution that can't be implemented is worthless. The Implementation Tree forces you to think through obstacles, intermediate objectives, and sequencing before you start. --- ## Key Insights **Success is achieving the system's purpose.** Whatever the owner says is the system's purpose, that's what it is. This sounds obvious but cuts through endless debates about what "success" means. The owner defines it. Everyone else works toward it. **An effective Problem Tree does two things.** It identifies the real critical root causes of the adverse indications you see. And it provides the logical rigour that substantiates that identification. Without the second, the first is just opinion. **Resistance to change is usually self-interest.** One of the most common expressions of conflict in any organisational system is resistance to change. It almost always results from people's concern for their own welfare, which they worry about more than the welfare of the organisation. The Conflict Resolution Diagram anticipates and resolves these conflicts before they derail implementation. **The trees use plain language.** Statements are complete sentences, not jargon. They adhere to a structured if-then format. This makes reading intuitive while imposing rigorous logic. Good communication and logical discipline aren't trade-offs. **Mission and goal are different.** Mission is a high-level purpose that survives indefinitely as long as the system exists. Goal is a long-term measurable outcome that, when achieved, clearly connotes mission accomplishment. Goals are visible indicators of mission accomplishment. **It's more important to know where you're going than to get there quickly.** Do not mistake activity for accomplishment. The Goal Tree forces this clarity before you start optimising processes or solving problems. --- ## Connects To - [[The Haystack Syndrome]] – Goldratt's TOC approach to information and decision-making - [[The Choice]] – Goldratt's philosophical foundations for TOC thinking - [[Theory of Constraints]] – The underlying framework; constraint identification and exploitation - [[The Fifth Discipline]] – Systems thinking as a complementary approach to complex problems - [[Crucial Conversations]] – The Evaporating Cloud shares DNA with making it safe to surface assumptions --- ## Final Thought The Logical Thinking Process is engineering applied to problem-solving. It's not creative in the sense of generating novel ideas—it's creative in the sense of forcing rigour onto messy situations. The five trees are scaffolding: they hold the thinking in place while you build. The most valuable part is the Conflict Resolution Diagram. Most problems persist not because solutions don't exist but because unstated assumptions block them. The Evaporating Cloud makes those assumptions visible. Once visible, they can be questioned. Once questioned, they often dissolve. The hardest thing isn't the logic. It's the discipline to use it when you think you already know the answer.