CATWOE

Understanding the different elements that contribute to a problem

© iStockphoto/sdominick

What do you do when you're faced with a really big business problem? (Maybe your employee retention is low, and you are looking for the reasons why.) Perhaps your first step is to brainstorm the possible reasons, and maybe then you apply a range of different problem-solving skills. But what if you've focused on the wrong problem, or you're just looking at a symptom of a larger problem?

By focusing on one specific problem, you tend to stop looking for other problems. And that's when you risk missing something that's potentially more fundamental than the problem you first decided to investigate. This is where CATWOE can help you avoid making a serious mistake.

Understanding CATWOE

In the 1960s Peter Checkland, a systems engineering professor, developed a problem-solving methodology called Soft Systems Methodology (SSM), which sought to apply systems principles to business and other "soft" problems.

SSM conceptualises the activities or business being examined as a system, the essence of which is encapsulated in a "Root Definition".

In 1975, David Smyth, a researcher in Checkland's department, observed that SSM was most successful when the Root Definition included certain elements. These elements, remembered by the mnemonic CATWOE, identified the people, processes and environment that contribute to a situation, issue, or problem that you need to analyze.

CATWOE stands for:

... for the complete article:

Mind Tools members, click here.

Finish this article and access all of Mind Tools' career-boosting resources

Join now for just $1, first month

"When I started using Mind Tools, I was not in a supervisory position. Now I am. Along with that came a 12% increase in salary."
– Pat Degan, Houston, USA