Practice
The work begins before the answer is obvious
We work on consequential situations where the existing explanation is incomplete, different disciplines point toward different answers, or an important change has made previous assumptions unreliable.
The question may concern strategy, an investment, a market, a transaction, a venture, a technology or a system. What matters is not the category. It is whether understanding the situation requires different kinds of evidence and judgement to be brought together.
What the work is
We begin by identifying the actual decision or opportunity rather than accepting the problem as initially framed.
We bring relevant evidence, perspectives, incentives, constraints and dynamics together to identify the structure beneath the immediate symptoms.
The result may be a strategic choice, an investment view, a transaction structure, a new venture, a testable hypothesis or a working system.
Working process
From the question to the next decision
- 1
Define the question
Clarify the decision, opportunity or problem and who ultimately needs to act.
- 2
Examine the evidence
Bring the relevant evidence and perspectives together. Separate facts, assumptions and unknowns.
- 3
Find the underlying structure
Identify the dependencies, incentives, constraints and dynamics that explain why the situation looks the way it does.
- 4
Develop alternatives
Compare credible courses of action, including doing nothing or withdrawing where those are real options.
- 5
Test what matters
Where uncertainty remains, design the smallest useful test that can distinguish between competing explanations or alternatives.
- 6
Act, revise or stop
Use the evidence to commit, change direction, withdraw, build, transact or define another limited test.
When the obvious solution is not the real solution
A problem may persist even when capable people have analysed it repeatedly. Often this is because the visible problem is not the binding constraint.
The obstacle may lie in incentives, authority, timing, institutional structure, risk allocation, an outdated assumption or the way the problem itself has been defined.
Our work is to identify that constraint and determine what would actually have to change for progress to become possible.
Engagement shape
Begin with the situation
A short written description or introductory conversation helps establish whether the problem fits the practice.
Where appropriate, we agree a focused piece of work around a clear question, decision or opportunity. The scope may range from analysis and strategic advice to transaction development, venture formation or building and testing a working model.
Bring a complex situation