💼 Business
Management Consultant Prompt: Issue Tree to Interview Guide
Turn a client question and engagement facts into a problem statement, an issue tree, hypotheses with tests, an interview guide, and a data request list.
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Prompt
Act as a management consultant who structures client problems in the first week of an engagement, turning a client question and the facts gathered so far into an issue tree, testable hypotheses, an interview guide, and a data request, without inventing market sizes or client numbers. Inputs: - Client code name and industry (no real client name if confidential): [ClientCodeName] - The question the client wants answered, in their words: [ClientQuestion] - Facts we already have, with source (kickoff notes, financials, prior decks): [EngagementFacts] - Team hypotheses so far, even rough ones: [Hypotheses] - People we can interview and their roles: [Stakeholders] - Data the client has said it can share: [DataAvailable] - Deadline and the deliverable the steering committee expects: [SteerCoDeliverable] Generate: 1. Problem statement: situation, complication, and key question in three sentences, using only EngagementFacts. 2. Issue tree: break the key question into 3 to 4 branches that do not overlap and together cover the problem, with 2 to 3 sub-questions each. 3. Hypothesis tests: for each item in Hypotheses, the issue tree branch it belongs to, the analysis that would prove or kill it, and the exact data it needs. 4. Interview guide: for each person in Stakeholders, 5 open questions tied to issue tree branches, plus one question that could disprove our favorite hypothesis. 5. Data request: a numbered list the client can act on, mapped to DataAvailable, with anything not yet offered marked NEW ASK. 6. Storyline skeleton: 6 to 8 action-title slide headlines for SteerCoDeliverable, each written as a claim to test, labeled HYPOTHESIS until data confirms it. 7. Gaps: facts we still need before the issue tree can be trusted. Rules: - Use only numbers in EngagementFacts. Never estimate market size, share, or benchmarks; write DATA NEEDED instead. - Keep the client anonymous by code name, and follow your firm's rules on putting client data into AI tools. - Slide headlines stay labeled as hypotheses until the analysis is done.
Instructions
Use a client code name and only facts you are allowed to share under your firm's AI policy. Every slide headline stays a hypothesis until your team has run the analysis. Never paste confidential client data; use a code name and only facts your firm allows.
Generated Output
This image was generated using the prompt above.
Examples
Example Input
ClientCodeName: Juniper, a regional bakery-cafe chain ClientQuestion: "Why did our margins fall last year, and what should we fix first?" EngagementFacts: 14 cafes; gross margin 62% in FY2024 and 55% in FY2025 (CFO deck); flour and butter invoices up in FY2025 (procurement email); two new suburban cafes opened March 2025; menu prices raised once, 4% in January 2025 (kickoff notes) Hypotheses: ingredient costs are the main driver; the two new cafes are dragging the average; waste went up when the menu grew Stakeholders: CFO, Head of Operations, two cafe managers (one urban, one new suburban) DataAvailable: monthly P&L by cafe, supplier invoices, POS sales by item SteerCoDeliverable: 10-slide diagnostic in 3 weeks
Example Output
1. PROBLEM STATEMENT Juniper runs 14 bakery-cafes. Gross margin fell from 62% in FY2024 to 55% in FY2025, a year with higher flour and butter invoices, two new suburban cafes, and one 4% price rise. Which drivers explain the 7-point drop, and which should Juniper fix first? 2. ISSUE TREE A. Is it input cost? A1 Which ingredients rose, and by how much per unit? A2 Did the 4% price rise cover them? A3 Did supplier terms change? B. Is it cafe mix? B1 What are the two new cafes' margins versus the other 12? B2 Is the drop visible in the 12 older cafes alone? C. Is it product mix? C1 Did sales shift toward lower-margin items? C2 Which new menu items sell least? D. Is it waste and labor in cost of goods? D1 Did waste per cafe rise after the menu grew? D2 Are there cafe-level outliers? 3. HYPOTHESIS TESTS - Ingredient costs are the main driver (A): unit-cost bridge FY2024 to FY2025 for the top 10 ingredients by spend. Data: supplier invoices, recipe cards. - New cafes drag the average (B): margin by cafe, older 12 versus the 2 new ones. Data: monthly P&L by cafe. - Waste rose with the menu (C, D): waste and item sales before and after the menu change. Data: POS by item, waste logs. 4. INTERVIEW GUIDE CFO: How is gross margin calculated, and did that change in FY2025? Which costs moved most in your view? How was the 4% price rise decided? What would you cut first? Disprove: if the older 12 cafes held margin, what would that tell you? Head of Operations: How did the menu change in FY2025? How is waste tracked? What changed in prep or ordering? Where do managers struggle? Disprove: which cafes kept waste flat after the menu grew? Urban cafe manager / suburban cafe manager: What sells best and worst? What gets thrown out at close? How do you order? What slowed you down this year? Disprove: what went better than expected? 5. DATA REQUEST 1. Monthly P&L by cafe, FY2024 to FY2025 2. Supplier invoices for the top 10 ingredients 3. POS sales by item and cafe 4. Recipe cards with ingredient quantities: NEW ASK 5. Waste logs by cafe: NEW ASK 6. Menu change dates: NEW ASK 6. STORYLINE SKELETON (all HYPOTHESIS) 1. Margin fell 7 points; most of the drop sits in [driver to confirm] 2. Ingredient inflation outran the 4% price rise 3. The two new cafes have not reached the margin of the older 12 4. The larger menu added waste without adding sales 5. Three fixes, ranked by margin recovered and ease 6. 90-day plan and owners 7. GAPS How margin is defined in the CFO deck; when the menu grew; whether waste is logged at all cafes; DATA NEEDED on unit costs before any ranking of fixes.