www.goodmind.net from The Business Strategy Cookbook © Goodmind, LLC

QuadrantAnalysis

ServesTackling large/complex problems

Troubleshooting workflow, process issues

Identifying Key Accelerating Factors

Ingredients5+ People

Moderator

Goal

Whiteboard

Easel

Markers

Time1 Workshop Session

Product Market

Competitor Operations

www.goodmind.net from The Business Strategy Cookbook © Goodmind, LLC

1Prepare template on the whiteboard. Summarize Goal above thetemplate.

2Discuss the problems and issues working against the Goal for 10-15 minutes. List on the easel as Constraints.

3Code each Constraint as a Product, Market, Operations, and/orCompetitor issue.

4Sort coded list items into the Constraints quadrant of the template.Circle Key Constraints, the problems that fall into multiplecategories.

5Discuss the positive circumstances and capabilities advancing theGoal for 10-15 minutes. List on the easel as Accelerating Factors.

6Repeat steps 3-5 to fill in the Accelerating Factors quadrant of thetemplate.

7Discuss completed template, and identify ways to apply KeyAccelerating Factors against Key Constraints.

Successes

►Using symptoms touncover and proactivelymanage root cause

Messes

►Relying on data to identifyproblems vs. reality

Satisfies

►Annual Planning Phase

►Periodic Evaluation

►Basic Troubleshooting

www.goodmind.net from The Business Strategy Cookbook © Goodmind, LLC

TeamModerator WhiteboardMarkers Goal

prep template

discuss goal

list constraints

code constraints intemplate

identify keyconstraints

repeat foraccelerating

factors

discuss template

apply acceleratingfactors to

constraints

Symbol Key

moderator activity

repeat process

team technique

team activity

Easel

Quadrant Analysis concentratesseveral superficial problems into a

single underlying source, and isolatesthe key Accelerating Factors for

generating straightforward solutions.

Difficulty

What’s a corecompetency?

www.goodmind.net from The Business Strategy Cookbook © Goodmind, LLC

Recipe Lineage

Quadrant Analysis is an original exercise, but borrows heavily from thework of Eliyahu Goldratt. Goldratt is perhaps best known for his“Theory of Constraints;” a systematic approach to perfectingorganizational performance. Though developed and commonlyexplained through manufacturing plant parables, Goldratt’s Theory isapplicable to any business enterprise.

It maintains that every organization has at least one Key Constraintthwarting the primary goal, which let’s face it, is making money. The“goal” of the theory then, is to understand how the cause and effectdependencies of complex processes interact, and ultimately dictateprofit margins.

Our version of the theory is a bit more decadent and incorporatesAccelerating Factors into the analysis of Constraints, thus providing aset of possible solutions for minimizing problems, and maximizingprofits. Quadrant Analysis organizes the extensive list of issuesplaguing daily operations, right alongside potential synergies.

The ensuing analysis of all this information is simple, because theexercise relies on team input of “real time data,” i.e. anecdotalevidence. Rather than reconciling balance sheets with inventory levels,Quadrant Analysis describes reality, and frames a strategy foraccepting it.

www.goodmind.net from The Business Strategy Cookbook©Goodmind, LLC

Product Market

Competitor Operations

Product Market

Competitor Operations

Goal: the desired outcome of a business process, or strategy

Accelerating

Factors are both the

actual and potential

circumstances that either

enhance your daily

workflow, or mitigate

Key Constraints.

The completed

Constraints quadrant

should illustrate that a few

broader issues cause most of

your daily problems.

These are your Key

Constraints.

Product related

Constraints, and

Accelerating Factors in-

clude anything loosely

related to the final

output of your

organization.

Market factors are

the external forces that

impact the demand of

your primary product or

service, for good

or bad.

Operations are

internal forces that

dictate your ability to

produce an acceptable

organizational output. If

you can control it, it’s

an Operation.

Competitor

behavior can negatively

impact your ability to do

business, or it can make your

organization more valuable.

Understanding both effects

ensures a balanced

response.

Constraints

Accelerating Factors