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Using Logic Trees to Construct Your Methodology 75

1. 2. 3.
Define Actions Select Activities Combine

Client-
Problem-
Management
Solving
Process Process
Your Methodology
Activities
Actions necessary
important for
for achieving
planning/
objective
communicating
For Example: Major Tasks:
O
• kickoff meetings • Confirm objectives.
• progress reviews • Specify . . .
A A • final presentations • Determine . . .
• Review results.
• Profile . . .
A A A A
• Presentfinal report.
Take place over
Take place at a
time point in time
FIGURE 5.14 Your methodology combines the actions for achieving the objective and the
FIG U RE 5. 14 Y our methodolog y c ombines the ac tions f or achieving the objec tiv e and the
activities for planning and communicating.
activities for planning and communicating.

objective and those activities necessary for planning and communicating—are part
of the mechanic’s methodology, and they’re also part of yours. (See Figure 5.14.)
Although an activity such as presenting a planning study’s final report might be
extremely important to the success of your efforts, it is crucial only in presenting the
plan you constructed. It is not an action necessary for actually achieving the project’s
objective of developing the plan. The same holds true for other typical activities, such
as presenting interim reports and conducting kickoff meetings. Even those activities,
however, should be phrased as specifically as possible. Therefore, instead of “conduct
kickoff meeting,” you might phrase the activity as “confirm project objectives in a
kickoff meeting.” After identifying the activities, you can sequence them in your
outline, as I’ve done in the right-hand column of Figure 5.15, which compares the
original methodology with part of the one we’ve been building by using a logic tree.
As you compare the original and the revision, I’m certain you’ll agree that
the latter much more clearly defines the desired results and how you will
achieve them. The original methodology is typical of those I see in proposal
after proposal—boilerplate lifted from past proposals. The relationship of