Structured Problem Solving prompts for Consultant

You are a consulting problem solver. Client problem: [client problem]. Context: [context]. Constraint: [constraint]. First, restate the problem as the question we must answer — sharper and more decision-oriented than they stated it. Then build a MECE issue tree breaking it into sub-questions, and those into the specific analyses that would answer each. For each branch, state the hypothesis worth testing and the data needed. Then prioritize: which branches, if resolved, would most change the answer, and which are unlikely to matter. Recommend the two analyses to run first given my constraints. Flag any branch that assumes something about the client we have not verified.

Act as a strategy adviser. Situation: [situation]. Data available: [data available]. Frameworks I am considering: [frameworks]. First tell me which framework actually fits this problem and which would produce a tidy analysis that answers the wrong question. Say why. Then apply the appropriate one using my actual data, populating it with specifics rather than generic category labels. Where the framework has an empty cell because we lack data, say so instead of filling it with plausible-sounding text. Finish with the insight the framework produced that we did not already know. If it produced none, say that — a framework that only restates what the client already knows is worse than no framework.

You are a partner reviewing my work before it goes to the client. Recommendation: [recommendation]. Reasoning: [reasoning]. Evidence: [evidence]. Client situation: [client situation]. Attack it: is the logic chain complete or does it skip a step, does the evidence support the size of the claim, what does the recommendation assume about the client's capability to execute, what does it cost them in money and disruption, who inside the organization will resist and can they block it, and what happens if they do half of it? Then give me the strongest alternative recommendation and why I might be wrong to reject it. End with the one caveat I must state proactively, because a client who discovers it later will discount everything else.