Problem Tree (root-cause analysis)
Definition
A problem tree is a causal diagram with the core problem as the trunk, its causes as roots, and its effects as branches.
It is the diagnostic that stops a campaign from running on a symptom rather than a leverage point: drawing the tree forces the campaign to distinguish the proximate (the branches — what the target is doing today) from the structural (the roots — what produces the target’s behaviour).
The practitioner craft (the People Power Manual, the standard community-development toolbox) is in identifying which root is both structural and winnable — a root that is structural but unwinnable tells the campaign what its opponent is, not what its campaign is. The People Power Manual (Commons Library / Change Agency) walks the practitioner through the full campaign arc — goal-setting, power analysis, base-building, tactic selection, action design, evaluation — with worked examples drawn from real campaigns at each step. [source: people-power-manual]
Full page: [[problem-tree]].
FAQ
What is a problem tree?
A problem tree is a causal diagram with the core problem as the trunk, its causes as roots, and its effects as branches [source: people-power-manual]. It is the diagnostic that stops a campaign from running on a symptom rather than a leverage point: drawing the tree forces the campaign to distinguish the proximate (the branches — what the target is doing today) from the structural (the roots — what produces the target’s behaviour).
What is the practitioner craft of the problem tree?
The practitioner craft (the People Power Manual, the standard community-development toolbox) is in identifying which root is both structural and winnable — a root that is structural but unwinnable tells the campaign what its opponent is, not what its campaign is [source: people-power-manual]. The People Power Manual (Commons Library / Change Agency) walks the practitioner through the full campaign arc — goal-setting, power analysis, base-building, tactic selection, action design, evaluation — with worked examples drawn from real campaigns at each step.
What does the problem tree force the campaign to do?
Drawing the tree forces the campaign to distinguish the proximate (the branches — what the target is doing today) from the structural (the roots — what produces the target’s behaviour) [source: people-power-manual]. The discipline is to pick the root that is both structural and winnable rather than to chase the most visible branch.