Thinking Process Workshop: Hands-on TOC Thinking Tools
Nine lessons, each with a worked example and a workbook exercise on a problem of your own. The templates check your wording and logic against the rules of the Thinking Process as you go, and everything you write stays in your browser.
- 9 lessons, about 202 minutes in all
- Free, no sign-up. Your progress is saved in this browser
- Certificate of completion when you pass all nine quizzes
- 1 Writing undesirable effectsEvery analysis starts with the problems people see. Learn what makes an undesirable effect (UDE), the two types, and the seven rules for wording one. Then write the UDEs of a system you know, and check them. 22 min
- 2 Building a conflict cloudBehind a chronic problem there is usually a conflict. Learn the five boxes of a cloud, the guidelines for wording each, and the logic checks that turn five boxes into a real cloud. Follow a worked case, then build your own. 22 min
- 3 Four types of cloudA dilemma, a disagreement, a fire and a performance gap each need a different kind of cloud, built in a different order. Learn to recognise each, follow four worked examples, and test yourself on a full case. 22 min
- 4 Surfacing assumptionsUnder every arrow of a cloud sits a reason we believe it must hold. Learn the four rules for writing an assumption, what goes under the conflict arrow, and the five typical mistakes, using the president’s cloud. Then surface the assumptions in your own cloud. 24 min
- 5 Finding injectionsBreak one assumption, and the conflict evaporates. Learn how to challenge assumptions into injections, the difference between an injection, an action, an intermediate objective and a desired effect, and how to check that an injection satisfies both needs. 20 min
- 6 Negative branchesGood ideas are often rejected for fear of what might go wrong. A negative branch maps that fear as cause and effect, and a supporting injection trims it. Build the shipping example step by step, then test your own injection. 18 min
- 7 Finding the core conflictThree UDE clouds from the same system usually turn out to be one conflict in three disguises. Learn to consolidate them with five rules, spot a flipped cloud, and find the core conflict behind the symptoms. 26 min
- 8 Building the current reality treeThe current reality tree connects the UDEs to their causes with if-then logic, and validates that the core conflict really produces them. Learn the snowflake method and the core-cloud method, explore a worked tree, and build your own. 26 min
- 9 From solution to changeValidate the solution with a future reality tree, overcome obstacles with intermediate objectives, sequence the change, and meet each layer of resistance with the right tool. Ends with a final test on the whole toolkit. 22 min
- ✓Your certificateUnlocks when all nine quizzes are passed.
This course is built from the Thinking Process training I run for management teams. If cause and effect, necessity and sufficiency are new to you, start with Thinking Clearly. All the templates are also on one page: Thinking Process templates.