Frame the situation

Framing starts with the situational understanding which was developed during the Discovery phase, fleshes it out with all of the issues and problems, pushes the team to come up with creative ideas and alternatives, and lays the foundation for the work to be done during the Evaluation phase. Conceptually, the Framing process involves expansion, followed by convergence:  expansion to generate “out-of-the-box” ideas and perspectives, and then convergence onto a manageable number of strategic alternatives which, when evaluated, will yield the insights needed to come up with an optimal strategic plan.

It is critical to capture all of the key issues early in a Framing session.  Some of these will come from interviews with senior executives during the Discovery phase, but most issues arise during a brainstorming session during the Framing workshop with the project team.  These can be almost anything:  important decisions which must be taken, key company objectives, uncertainties about the future which make the situation difficult, etc.

Once gathered, issues are categorized into Objectives, Decisions, Uncertainties, Facts, and Others (most issues fall into one of the first three categories).

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