Faced with a problem and don't know where to start? Use an issue tree

While the point of software engineering itself is pretty much entirely scalable problem solving, there are times when you have a problem that you just can't figure out where to even begin. This is where using a tool or a model to help guide you through a process of understanding the problem is useful.

An issue tree is just one such tool, but it's especially useful against large or complex problems, since it is a technique to break down and structure problems. This means you can divide and conquer the problem, and there's one special characteristic of the issue tree that makes this possible.

So how does it work? When you're breaking down a problem, the question you ask is "Why?", to break down a problem into its subcategories. You have to make sure that the subcategories are mutually exclusive, collectively exhaustive (MECE). So there should be no overlap between the subcategories, and together, they should completely cover the problem. Repeat this question for each subcategory, until you can't answer the "Why?" any more.

This MECE property of issue trees is the characteristic that makes the concept useful, since it means that solving the sub-problems would completely solve the original problem as well. They also create an overview of the problem in a more granular level, which allows you to prioritise the sub-problems.

Once you have your problem tree, you can construct a solution tree by focusing on one problem, and asking the question "How?" instead to create subcategories of solutions, and then coming up with ideas to solve those sub-solutions.

The idea behind all of this is to give yourself some structure and constraints to help increase your creativity when generating reasons for a problem and its solutions. And this technique can be applied to any problem at all, not just work related ones. You want to save up for a vacation, you want to get better at playing the piano, you want to spend less time on social media, any problem where you're not sure of the immediate next step, you can use an issue tree to break down and think about in a much more specific, directed way.

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Source: https://untools.co/issue-trees

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