Finding the core conflict

One conflict, many symptoms

Build a UDE cloud for three different UDEs of the same system, and something striking happens: the three clouds look different, but they describe the same tension. Find that common tension, and you have the core conflict: the one cloud that, if dissolved, removes most of the UDEs at once. It is the strongest evidence of inherent simplicity.

The challenge is to see the common aspect in statements that look different.

Finding the common aspect

Consolidation moves from specific to general. Take a 17th-century table, an 18th-century painting and a 19th-century lamp. What do they have in common? They are all antiques: the factor is age. Take a table, a lamp and a painting from a summer house, and the common aspect is household items: the factor is use. The same items can consolidate in different ways; you look for the factor that genuinely covers all three.

Five rules for consolidating

1. Put both entities of each link on one page: A, B, C, D and D′ of all three clouds side by side.
2. Start with the actions, D and D′. Actions are more tangible than needs, so they are easier to consolidate.
3. Write one or two essence words first. Look down each column and name what it is about, before you write any sentence. Then build the full statement around those words, and check it is more general than each of the three. (It may be close to one of them, if that one was already the most general.) Then, for B and C, ask: the consolidated action is to achieve what?
4. Check for a flipped cloud. If one pair, say B3 and D3, doesn’t fit the pattern of the other two, check C3 and D′3. If they don’t fit either, cloud 3 is probably flipped: swap B3 with C3 and D3 with D′3, and continue. If it still won’t consolidate, go back to that UDE cloud and recheck its logic and wording.
5. Check the logic of the consolidated cloud: in order to [B], we must [D]; in order to [C], we must [D′]. If it doesn’t flow, return to rules 2 to 4.

And a sixth, when you have more than three UDEs: check every other UDE. If it endangers the consolidated B, the core cloud represents it. If not, build its cloud and consolidate it in too.

A worked example: a plant

A plant has three UDEs: orders are late, finished-goods stock is high, and overtime is high. Here are their UDE clouds, the essence words and the consolidated cloud. One of the three clouds is flipped: can you spot which before you press Check my work?

Cloud 3 is flipped. In clouds 1 and 2, B is about responding to customers and D about following demand; C is about cost and D′ about keeping resources busy. In cloud 3, B (“keep labour cost under control”) and D (“stick to the plan”) are on the cost side. Press Flip cloud 3 and the pattern lines up.

The consolidated cloud is the classic production core conflict: follow actual demand (change the plan, expedite, make only what’s ordered) to match flow to demand, against keep every resource busy in efficient batches to keep the cost per unit low. Both serve running the plant profitably. Its assumptions, on both sides:

Arrow	Because…
B–D: to match flow to demand, we must follow actual demand	Customers judge us on delivery, and the mix they order changes faster than any plan. Making what isn’t ordered delays what is.
C–D′: to keep cost per unit low, we must keep every resource busy in efficient batches	The cost per unit falls when every resource is busy. Every set-up is lost capacity.
D–D′: we can’t do both	Following demand means small lots, changes and idle time, and we have no rule for where those cost nothing.

The flow side holds up. The cost side rests on a belief, that the cost per unit falls when every resource is busy, which throughput accounting shows to be false.

Workbook: your core conflict

Go back to your UDE list from lesson 1. Pick three UDEs that seem different from one another. Build a UDE cloud for each in the grid (five questions: why is the UDE undesirable, what do you do about it, what stops you always doing that, what do you do instead, what do both needs serve). Then consolidate, column by column, starting with the actions.

After consolidating, surface the assumptions of your core cloud in the cloud template, just as you did in lesson 4. The injection that breaks the core conflict is the heart of your solution.

Check your understanding

Answer all five. Get four right to complete the lesson.

1. Consolidation moves…

• From general to specific
• From specific to general
• From needs to UDEs
• From solutions to problems

Find the factor that covers all three statements.

2. Before writing a consolidated statement, you should…

• Vote on it
• Pick the longest statement as the most complete
• Average the three
• Write one or two essence words for the column

Rule 3.

3. A flipped cloud is one where…

• B and D sit on the side where the other clouds have C and D′
• A is missing, so the cloud has to be read backwards from D
• The UDE is wrong
• D and D′ agree

Swap B with C and D with D′, then continue.

4. How do you know whether another UDE is represented by the core cloud?

• It uses the same words
• It was listed first
• It endangers the consolidated need B
• The manager says so

Rule 6.

5. Why is finding the core conflict so valuable?

• It produces a longer report
• One injection to the core conflict removes many UDEs at once
• It identifies who is to blame
• It replaces the current reality tree, which saves time

Many symptoms, one cause: inherent simplicity.