Process Decision Planning Chart

• Problem Solving Compendium, p. 210. Methods proposed by Jiro Kondo in “Decision-Making Methods: Recommendations for PDPC

  • constraints clarify

• Set start: status quo.

• Set a goal to be reached: ideal.

• Connecting the Start and the Goal

  • Symbols used
    • □: Measure: action.
    • ○: Status
    • ◇: Forking Point
    • Loops are allowed
  • First, connect by the shortest route.
    • Most optimistic route
  • Think of possible junctures and add to the write-up.
  • When you have completed most of the writing, consider the following
    • (a) Are there any inconsistencies?
    • (b) Is anything missing?
    • (c) Are contingency plans sufficient?

remarks

• It is not possible to create a complete “process decision plan map” in advance
• As time progresses, more information will be added to the write-up.
• If things don’t go as planned, rewrite them.
• It can be made with insufficient information. It’s not an analysis of facts, but an illustration of the creator’s perception of the problem.
• When new facts come to light and the perception of the problem is updated, the diagram is also redrawn.

consideration thought that “start,” “goal,” and “measures” would correspond to “reality,” “ideal,” and “action,” respectively.

• The approach is to “consider actions to bridge the gap between the ideal and the reality.”

  • When the gap is large, it cannot be filled by a single action.

• In this case, there is an approach that stands closer to the ideal.

  • Closer to the ideal, smaller the gap.
  • As the gap gets smaller, so do the actions to close it.
  • This approach does not consider the next action that results from that action
  • To use a chess analogy, it is the equivalent of not reading your opponent’s moves.

• Process Decision Planning Diagrams Pass the Optimistic Path First to the End

  • Then add branches to the extent possible where there is uncertainty.
  • In chess, we assume that our opponent will make a move that suits us.
  • Shogi reading assumes that the opponent will play the move that is most unfavorable to us.
    • The real world isn’t always like that.
    • Unlike chess, there are a myriad of “what could happen” options.
      • I might get hit by a truck myself tomorrow.
  • Since there are limits to human cognitive abilities, it makes sense to start with the simplest “optimistic path.

• [One of The Seven New QC Tools

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