Hey there,

Let me share my personal #1 trick on this: When I was already working at McKinsey, I turned this into a little game by creating MECE structures unrelated to business problems. 

For example, in how many ways can you break down fruit?

1. Healthy / Unhealthy
2. Red / Green / Yellow / Other
3. Grow on: Trees / Bushes / On ground / Under ground / Other
4. Good taste / Bad taste
5. Last long / medium / short time until they perish
6. Round / elongated / other shape

You get the point! It seems trivial but this is a simple way of training those MECE muscles without the headache of a long business case…

Give it a try and see if this gets you back on track! Best of luck!

Hi there, 

The tree helps to identify the root cause of the huge complex problem, breaking it down into small, manageable and logical pieces: e.g. ski resort has a problem with profitability, you need to break it down to understand what the root case is: it can be rent cost, as well as poor distribution. 

So you have 2 options around it: drill them down or/and get a good coach to eventually explain and train you on that. 

Still, don't obsess with it. If you, during the case feel like not being comfortable, don't do them but remember you need to identify the root cause to define your solution. I often see candidates trying to use frameworks they don't understand and it limit their options to explore the case properly. 

If you want to understand rather how do we use the hypothesis approach, feel free to reach out. 

Good luck,

Lucie

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Hi there,

Personally, I think this is the #1 use/benefit of a coach. There is nothing more important and harder to learn on your own in casing than creating strong frameworks and driver trees.

Honestly, there's no easy way to explain this in typing. The main gist is you need to break down the problem into its key components at every step of the way. Based on what you know, where could you possibly go?

Most candidates are either too vague or too specific/narrow. I highly recommend a coach here!

Hi there,

in addition to all the comments and explanations, find below an exemplary practice case that can be used for such a presentation interview format.

https://www.preplounge.com/de/case-sammlung/candidate-led-ueblicher-stil/schwierig/business-strategy-home-delivery-solution-for-retailer-chain-332?lang=en

Best

You have to practice issue tree drills on your own. Just do 3-4 every day, taking as much time as needed (that's why it has to be on your own). First you need to get the skill right, because otherwise you won't be able to do it when under pressure.

Dear candidate,

in such a situation I would suggest you practise specifically issue tree drills. Choose case studies that can be solved with issue trees and only do the issue tree structuring part, until you feel confident enough that you will be able to do this during the interview. This way you will hopefully gain a lot of issue tree practise before the interview. Happy to practise with you. There are several cases on preplounge that are suitable to being solved with issue trees. Best regards

Hello!

Since you have a very good and targeted diagnosis about where the problem is, have you considered working with a coach? A coach can precisely optimize the time to focus on multiple case structures in 1h and practice across cases. 

Cheers, 

Clara