As I write these lines, in 2024, it will be nearly ten years that I am a fan, a promoter, and a Goal Tree Builder. With 25 Trees already proudly populating my forest, I’d like to share some use cases that may inspire you to consider building one of your own.

Strategic road map

When used as a stand alone tool, the Goal Tree is perfect for describing all the milestones in the roadmap that will turn a strategic intent into reality. Out of the 25 Trees I helped build, 18 were focused on the strategic roadmap.

It begins with the Goal statement, that either exists and is usable or a proper statement must be crafted beforehand. Interestingly, even very mature companies asked for my assistance for expressing and/or polishing the Goal statement. Such statements must be “usable” and not the more common “feel good statement” that are fluffy and (only) fit for standards’ requirements. 

For a good Goal Tree to grow, the Goal statement is the key element, the seed so to say. The better the Goal Statement, the easier to analyze and pinpoint all Necessary Conditions to achieve the Goal.

Some Goals among my use cases:

• Reconquer lost leadership in the industry (food)
• Detail the “why” of a consulting firm
• Merging two companies without losing the craftsmanship (luxury)
• Set up the Goal of a Business Unit and align it to Corporate’s Goal
• Cleanup and align all internal initiatives and project onto the company’s Goal

Tactical, project-oriented road map

The Goal Tree is a fractal object as I use to say, its structure remains the same regardless of the scale you’ll consider it. Another way to put it is that a Goal is scalable. The Goal Tree can be used to build the road map for a strategic intent as well as for a more practical, detailed Project Work Breakdown Structure, or simply put, a practical road map to make things happen.

To date, out of my 25 facilitated Goal Tree buildings, 7 are of this type. To give you a flavor of what can be addressed:

• Clarify and improve logistics operation in beverage industry
• How to reach the assigned output of housing modules
• Steps to roll out Autonomous Maintenance in a big factory
• Insure sterility and proper use of changeover parts in a big pharma plant

Interested in more details?

If you’d like to learn more about these use cases, I am thinking about publishing a string of posts about the use cases. You may like this post to show your interest and boost my motivation..!