Use when a situation, request, problem, event, stakeholder issue, process, or plan needs basic fact clarification through who, what, when, where, why, and how. Use when applying 5W1H, 4W1H, fact clarification, situation framing, or first-pass problem understanding.
Use when the best explanation must be inferred from incomplete, ambiguous, or competing evidence. Use when applying abductive reasoning, inference to the best explanation, mystery diagnosis, competing explanation review, or plausible hypothesis selection.
Use when pursuing, defending, expanding, or recovering a client account or project opportunity. Use when applying the Account Plan consulting method and when a user asks for Account Plan, method execution, structured diagnosis, or action planning.
Use when many raw ideas, observations, quotes, pain points, risks, requirements, or research notes need to be grouped into natural themes. Use when applying affinity diagramming, affinity mapping, KJ method, qualitative clustering, theme synthesis, or sensemaking from messy inputs.
Use when a recommendation, plan, diagnosis, or stakeholder judgment depends on unstated assumptions that must be named and tested. Use when applying assumption inventory, assumption mapping, leap-of-faith assumption review, or critical assumption testing.
Use when performance management needs a broader view than financial or single KPI tracking. Use when applying the Balanced Scorecard consulting method and when a user asks for Balanced Scorecard, method execution, structured diagnosis, or action planning.
Use when a commercial, operational, or investment decision needs a threshold for viability. Use when applying the Break Even Analysis consulting method and when a user asks for Break Even Analysis, method execution, structured diagnosis, or action planning.
Use when clarifying how a business, product, offer, or venture creates, delivers, and captures value. Use when applying the Business Model Canvas consulting method and when a user asks for Business Model Canvas, method execution, structured diagnosis, or action planning.
Use when the timing of events, turning points, stakeholder behavior changes, or cause-and-effect sequence must be clarified. Use when applying a change event timeline, turning-point analysis, event sequence map, or before-after signal review.
Use when implementing process, system, organization, policy, or operating-model changes. Use when applying the Change Impact Analysis consulting method and when a user asks for Change Impact Analysis, method execution, structured diagnosis, or action planning.
Use when a decision, change, project, or stakeholder move needs coordinated communication. Use when applying the Communications Plan consulting method and when a user asks for Communications Plan, method execution, structured diagnosis, or action planning.
Use when a strategy, offer, pitch, or account plan needs sharper differentiation. Use when applying the Competitive Positioning consulting method and when a user asks for Competitive Positioning, method execution, structured diagnosis, or action planning.
Use when progress is limited by bottlenecks, scarce resources, binding constraints, dependencies, policy limits, capacity limits, decision rights, or one factor that controls throughput. Use when applying constraint analysis, bottleneck diagnosis, theory of constraints, limiting-factor review, or constraint removal…
Use when deciding whether an action is worth the resources, attention, or tradeoffs required. Use when applying the Cost Benefit Analysis consulting method and when a user asks for Cost Benefit Analysis, method execution, structured diagnosis, or action planning.
Use when a decision depends on a few uncertain variables whose direction could materially change the plan. Use when applying critical uncertainties, uncertainty mapping, scenario driver selection, strategic uncertainty review, or signpost planning.
Use when treating all customers the same is obscuring priorities, offer design, or service strategy. Use when applying the Customer Segmentation consulting method and when a user asks for Customer Segmentation, method execution, structured diagnosis, or action planning.
Use when assessing retention risk, expansion potential, account quality, or service intervention priority. Use when applying the Customer Success Health Score consulting method and when a user asks for Customer Success Health Score, method execution, structured diagnosis, or action planning.
Use when pursuing a specific opportunity and needing a structured path to win or advance. Use when applying the Deal Strategy Map consulting method and when a user asks for Deal Strategy Map, method execution, structured diagnosis, or action planning.
Use when choosing among options and the decision needs explicit criteria, tradeoffs, and defensible reasoning. Use when applying the Decision Matrix consulting method and when a user asks for Decision Matrix, method execution, structured diagnosis, or action planning.
Use when a conclusion must be tested against explicit rules, principles, criteria, policies, definitions, premises, or if-then logic. Use when applying deductive reasoning, rule-based reasoning, premise-to-conclusion testing, logical consistency checks, or validity review.
Use when there are multiple possible next actions and the user needs quick wins, major projects, fill-ins, or deprioritized items. Use when applying the Effort Impact Matrix consulting method and when a user asks for Effort Impact Matrix, method execution, structured diagnosis, or action planning.
Use when stakeholder motivation is unclear and the work requires a grounded, human view before messaging or intervention design. Use when applying the Empathy Map consulting method and when a user asks for Empathy Map, method execution, structured diagnosis, or action planning.
Use when facts, claims, assumptions, missing evidence, and confidence levels need to be separated before diagnosis. Use when applying an evidence map, evidence ledger, fact-versus-assumption review, proof inventory, or evidence-strength assessment.
Use when the user needs immediate controllable next actions inside limited authority, resources, or certainty. Use when applying 15% Solutions, small controllable action, low-regret next step, agency boundary, or next-72-hour action planning.