Concept ยท Consulting & Mba Frameworks

Issue Trees

Origin: McKinsey

Biological Parallel

Trees grow through branching logic: each node represents a decision point where apical meristems choose to fork, extend, or terminate based on light, nutrients, and structural constraints. The architecture ensures complete canopy coverage without branches competing for the same photosynthetic space. Issue trees replicate this logic: decompose problems into mutually exclusive branches that collectively exhaust solution space, pruning paths that lead nowhere.