issue tree of a wifi case

Question

i wonder whether my issue tree is good:

Background: Your client is the local government of one countries in Southeast Asia. They are considering launching free WIFI in CBD area. Originally the stores have their own network. It won’t have access to personal information.

objective
evaluate this option
1. Non-Financial side of this option:
  1. Public value:
    1. bring benefits to citizen
    2. for future use, eg. traffic planning, google map app
  2. Commercial usage. eg. advertisements from merchants (I am worried future use might have overlap with commercial usage)
  3. Risk（i am concerned that the risk is not in the same dimension with the above use. usually risk should be with benefit, cost, risk）
2. The financial side of this option: cost, funding, revenue
Alternatives
Implementation

Answer 1

Hi!

I think you have many excellent points, content-wise. Hoewever, your logic does not seem robust.

It does not make sense to first define an objective, and then not center your tree around the objective! So if for example the objective is profit, then your issue tree needs to center around this. Disaggregate profit into its drivers to conceptualize, how free Wifi could generate profits for the local government. What would be the income streams? What are the sub drivers? Etc.

The same is true, if the objective is non-financial. The tree then needs to break down, which drivers related to free Wifi cater for this non-financial objective. It is always the same principle!

Side condidtions to check before making a final recommendation are capabilities and risks.

It takes a couple of weeks to master the skill of such rigorous top-down thinking, but once you master it, you will have an almost invincible weapon to attack any strategic question thrown at you.

Cheers, Sidi

Answer 2

Hi there,

Completely agree with Sidi - your objective should never be the first item in an issue tree/framework. This is one of the main focus areas for your clarifying questions! (which should fundamentally aim to narrow your tree / eliminate branches)

Apart from that, the structure isn't wrong, but not fully fleshed out! Would need to see more about specifics (i.e. examples) AND the "How" (i.e. how am I going to evaluate this specific item and what does good/bad look like)