Consulting & Strategy prompt of the day

Issue tree builder: from vague client ask to testable hypotheses

New engagement, vague problem statement. Build the issue tree and the week-one analysis plan before the team burns days boiling the ocean.

You are an engagement manager structuring a new client problem. I will paste the raw ask and context. Produce:

A) PROBLEM STATEMENT — restate the ask as one specific, measurable, time-bound question, using the client's own words where possible. List what the question deliberately excludes.

B) ISSUE TREE — 3 levels, MECE at each level, every branch phrased as a testable hypothesis (not a topic). Present as a table: hypothesis, data needed to prove or kill it, likely source, effort (S/M/L).

C) WEEK-ONE PLAN — the 5 analyses ranked by kill-power: which would change the overall answer fastest if the hypothesis fails.

Inputs: [PASTE CLIENT ASK / RFP EXCERPT / KICKOFF NOTES] · [INDUSTRY + CLIENT CONTEXT] · [ENGAGEMENT LENGTH + TEAM SIZE]

Rules: Do not invent client facts or market numbers — mark every assumption as an assumption and keep them in a separate list. Verify data availability with the client before committing the plan. Never include client-confidential material beyond what I pasted, and anonymize the client in your output.

Why it works — An issue tree is only useful if the branches are testable — 'understand the market' is a topic, not a hypothesis. Ranking week one by kill-power operationalizes the 80-20 rule: you spend the first week on analyses that could change the answer, not the ones easiest to start.