I got a tough McK style case: How would you improve ecological implications from forest fires in California

Hi,

First of all you need to ask clarifying questions that would help you clarify the problem.

Aims: What are the success criteria for improving the ecological impact? Any particular benchmark? Do we have any deadline?
Constraints: do we have any budgetary/ any other constraints that we need to take into account?
External factors: do we know any external factors that we need to take into account?

Now let’s choose a framework type for this case:

• conceptual/ business situation frameworks do not fit
• numerical frameworks could potentially fit, but I am not sure we could have the required depth here
• value chain/ process framework - perfectly fits

Here is how I would structure the problem:

1) Fire prevention (aim is prevent as many fires as possible)

• human related cases (regulations; education)
• nature ralated causes (drought - use predictive analytics tools, lightning strikes - build lightning rods)

2) Fire extinguishing (aim is to supply quick response and reduce the sq miles of fire as much as possible)

• fire detection (e.g. use satellites; aviation; ground patrol)
• fire localization (e.g. use mounds and other fire barriers)
• fire elimination (e.g. use of aviations and ground forces)

3) Elimination of the consequences of a fire (aim is to get rid of consequences from fires as much as possible)

• land related
• forest related
• animals related

The trick is to create a structure that would be MECE and deep. And then you can leverage brainstorming techniques to create solutions for all areas in this structure. I fulfilled a few examples.

Hope it helps!

Best,

Anton