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God Bless you, my man. Keep doing it. You show us how to solve problems and why should we do it... It's better than motivational shitty stuff..... Once again, Bruno... You're the best... Much love from Indonesia...
Do you think this could be structured as an algebraic structure? I was thinking of starting with number of words recognized/student, or weekly hours of school attended/student. At 1:16 it mentions this is a public sector case and candidates get more confidence once they've seen one. I was thinking which parts of this case is transferrable to other public sector cases? The only point i can spot is the fact that infrastructure becomes controllable.
One thing I cannot wrap my head around: We are trying to solve the issue of illiteracy of the kids who go to public schools but one of the branches in the first layer is "Kids aren't going to school". Why are you considering this if the problem itself focuses on kids who go to school?
Hey Seuzer! Pardon my wording - what I meant in the case question are children who are part of the public schooling system. Many of them may not go to school (fully or partially, aka they skip class) even though its the government’s responsibility that they do. My intention with the case question was to exclude the kids who go to private school and may have literacy problems. Sorry for my lack of clarity creating confusion
Hi Bruno - seuzer already asked the question that I had in mind! I think, being a student of your lessons, it is important to apply what you are teaching. And, in chapter 5, mistake #1 - "sin of ignoring problem definition". That's the reason, I think seuzer and I, thought of asking this question. I understand now that it is simply wording issue. Thanks
Hey Soren, glad your question was quickly cleared up. Yes, the problem was on my wording. One thing to take away from this, I guess, is that as much as we strive to be 100% rigorous and 100% clear on our thinking and speech, we can never expect of ourselves to be perfect. I mean, I obviously know the principles that I taught myself, but still lacked on clarity when doing this tree. The good thing is that case interviews are a back and forth process. If interviewers gets confused, they can always clarify what you meant (and vice versa - interviewers make tons of mistakes too). The only requirements are that there aren't too many of these mistakes and that things can be reasoned out as questions come.
Well, take 3:24 for example, how could I come up with this division to break down the problem in the first layer? Did you have several possibilities across your mind and you choose the best one, or you just come up with it instinctively?
@@rayzhang4758 oh, check out our video on the 5 Ways to be MECE. Also, the issue tree guide in our website (just Google “Issue tree guide crafting cases”). Results will never be identical, but you’ll get a clear picture of how to do it.
@@CraftingCases I have seen the video, the article, and the case fundamental... But I wonder which way I should train myself to break it down in such a insightful way (of course your videos help a lot, changing my way of thinking!)
Hi Bruno -s ame question as VCVC - would be good to hear back ! Question reposted here: "in your video about using opposite words to be MECE you warn against using opposite words as the core of your structure, and that using opposite words the whole way through results in a MECE but empty structure without insight. so why here do we use opposite words to create the entire structure? thank you! really appreciating your videos."
I did it this way to show that it is possible to create structures with insight just with this technique. The pro of this technique is that it's very easy to use and very versatile. The con is that it CAN create an empty structure with no insight. If you can have insight using it in a specific situation, though, go for it. I just wouldn't use it as the backbone of my problem-solving toolkit.
Hey guys ! Congrats for the excellent job ! Could I do this problem through a conceptual framework ? As it looks like a long term strategy problem. Forte abraço !
It is not necessarily a long-term strategy problem because you don't know the root cause of illiteracy upfront. It could simply be an optimization problem (e.g. teachers have poor methodology), or an operational problem (e.g. schools are far away from many kids' homes). If you treat it as a strategy problem upfront you might cover EVERY SINGLE possible root cause except the real one. Issue trees are really the way to go here -- illiteracy is a problem that's numerical and requires a diagnosis before solving.
It's hard because even though illiteracy is a metric, it is a percentage. The only two types of equation that make sense would be "# of illiterates / # of students", which isn't very helpful or a funnel breakdown (which is basically what we did).
Hi guys, What happens if we have mixed results? I don’t think we can explain illiteracy by only one cause. In some regions kids might not go to schools, in others teachers might not be good, etc. Can you see where I am trying to go? Wouldn’t it be better to break down the problem in a conceptual framework to see what can be done within each category? Cheers
Ideally you quantify each of these branches, and then you'll have an objective diagnosis about why they're illiterate. Of course this can vary region by region, school by school, and that's the point of quantifying -- you can use this knowledge to create different interventions for places with different root problems. A conceptual framework won't help you because you DON'T want to see what can be done within each category. That'd be incredibly complex and time/money consuming. You'd only do that if each category contributes EQUALLY to the problem, and even then, you'd prioritize by the most cost-effective solutions first. Illiteracy is multi-factorial in most developed countries because all the low-hanging fruit has been taken care of. If all the illiterate people are in the "not going to school" bucket and they're all not going to school because of a lack of public transportation, that's not a complex, multi-faceted problem to be solved. It's a logistics problem. Might not be easy to solve, but it's pretty simple.
So one problem I have with your approach is that the question specifically asks about "children who DO go to their public schools", and the whole bottom branch of your issue tree discusses the case of kids NOT going to school. I think your tree fits the question of general literacy rate problems, but not this specific question.
Hey Benjamin, my fault. It’s a wording problem. What I meant in the original question was to include all kids that are in the public school system and exclude kids in private schools or homeschooling. These kids are in the system but still might not attend school because of lack of infrastructure or skipping class, etc. Again, wording problem on my part - hope the example was still useful despite that.
@@benjaminfistein2026 Will do! Can I ask you a quick question? Have you joined our free course yet? Why/why not? (Really asking this out of curiosity).
@@benjaminfistein2026 Interesting! I asked that to understand why people who watch some of our more "obscure" videos (like this one) haven't joined our free course yet :) So, just to see if I understood you, you haven't joined the free course yet because you didn't know the course existed yet -- did I get that right? (we talk about the course at the end of every video, but mostly only in the end so trying to figure out if a lot of people don't see that).
your issue tree does not cover the quality of the education itself, such as the curriculum and how are they checking a students ability to learn. Maybe the exams are super tough compared to what they are being taught which is making it look like education is bad. so the pronlem is not with teachers or students but the exams and curriculum.
Hey Kash, The case is about illiteracy. I simple assumed that there are reasonable standards of measuring literacy, as there are in the real world. If this case were about poor education in a very generic sense, I'd agree with you, but I don't think a government would be concerned with their kids abilities to read if their kids could read perfectly but for obscure Shakespeare sonnets.
Want to improve your structuring skills? Join our free course! You'll learn our best techniques to create structures and frameworks from scratch, brainstorm ideas in a MECE way, and generate and test hypotheses. Get instant access at: www.craftingcases.com/freecourse
God Bless you, my man. Keep doing it. You show us how to solve problems and why should we do it... It's better than motivational shitty stuff..... Once again, Bruno... You're the best...
Much love from Indonesia...
Hey Kojets, glad we're being of help! I too abhor motivational stuff with no practical application, so trying to do it differently here!
@@CraftingCases Keep it up, guys! Hope you nothing but success!
Do you think this could be structured as an algebraic structure? I was thinking of starting with number of words recognized/student, or weekly hours of school attended/student.
At 1:16 it mentions this is a public sector case and candidates get more confidence once they've seen one. I was thinking which parts of this case is transferrable to other public sector cases? The only point i can spot is the fact that infrastructure becomes controllable.
One thing I cannot wrap my head around: We are trying to solve the issue of illiteracy of the kids who go to public schools but one of the branches in the first layer is "Kids aren't going to school". Why are you considering this if the problem itself focuses on kids who go to school?
Hey Seuzer! Pardon my wording - what I meant in the case question are children who are part of the public schooling system. Many of them may not go to school (fully or partially, aka they skip class) even though its the government’s responsibility that they do.
My intention with the case question was to exclude the kids who go to private school and may have literacy problems. Sorry for my lack of clarity creating confusion
@@CraftingCases Many thanks for your response. Now it is clear :) Thanks for the amazing videos!
Hi Bruno - seuzer already asked the question that I had in mind! I think, being a student of your lessons, it is important to apply what you are teaching. And, in chapter 5, mistake #1 - "sin of ignoring problem definition". That's the reason, I think seuzer and I, thought of asking this question. I understand now that it is simply wording issue. Thanks
Hey Soren, glad your question was quickly cleared up. Yes, the problem was on my wording.
One thing to take away from this, I guess, is that as much as we strive to be 100% rigorous and 100% clear on our thinking and speech, we can never expect of ourselves to be perfect. I mean, I obviously know the principles that I taught myself, but still lacked on clarity when doing this tree.
The good thing is that case interviews are a back and forth process. If interviewers gets confused, they can always clarify what you meant (and vice versa - interviewers make tons of mistakes too). The only requirements are that there aren't too many of these mistakes and that things can be reasoned out as questions come.
Different people use this method will lead to total different results... Hope you can tell us more about how you came up with all of this
Not exactly sure what your question is
Well, take 3:24 for example, how could I come up with this division to break down the problem in the first layer?
Did you have several possibilities across your mind and you choose the best one, or you just come up with it instinctively?
@@rayzhang4758 oh, check out our video on the 5 Ways to be MECE. Also, the issue tree guide in our website (just Google “Issue tree guide crafting cases”).
Results will never be identical, but you’ll get a clear picture of how to do it.
@@CraftingCases I have seen the video, the article, and the case fundamental... But I wonder which way I should train myself to break it down in such a insightful way (of course your videos help a lot, changing my way of thinking!)
@@rayzhang4758 Beyond learning the techniques, it comes down with practice.
Hi Bruno -s ame question as VCVC - would be good to hear back !
Question reposted here:
"in your video about using opposite words to be MECE you warn against using opposite words as the core of your structure, and that using opposite words the whole way through results in a MECE but empty structure without insight. so why here do we use opposite words to create the entire structure? thank you! really appreciating your videos."
I did it this way to show that it is possible to create structures with insight just with this technique. The pro of this technique is that it's very easy to use and very versatile. The con is that it CAN create an empty structure with no insight. If you can have insight using it in a specific situation, though, go for it. I just wouldn't use it as the backbone of my problem-solving toolkit.
Hey guys ! Congrats for the excellent job ! Could I do this problem through a conceptual framework ? As it looks like a long term strategy problem. Forte abraço !
It is not necessarily a long-term strategy problem because you don't know the root cause of illiteracy upfront. It could simply be an optimization problem (e.g. teachers have poor methodology), or an operational problem (e.g. schools are far away from many kids' homes). If you treat it as a strategy problem upfront you might cover EVERY SINGLE possible root cause except the real one.
Issue trees are really the way to go here -- illiteracy is a problem that's numerical and requires a diagnosis before solving.
Ok, makes more sense now. Thanks guys !
THANK YOU so much for this.
You're welcome!
did you find other public sector case samples? if yes, could you forward me the same?
@Craftingcases can one try to make the core /starting framework quant? - if so what type of equation would it be?
It's hard because even though illiteracy is a metric, it is a percentage. The only two types of equation that make sense would be "# of illiterates / # of students", which isn't very helpful or a funnel breakdown (which is basically what we did).
Hi guys,
What happens if we have mixed results? I don’t think we can explain illiteracy by only one cause. In some regions kids might not go to schools, in others teachers might not be good, etc. Can you see where I am trying to go? Wouldn’t it be better to break down the problem in a conceptual framework to see what can be done within each category?
Cheers
Ideally you quantify each of these branches, and then you'll have an objective diagnosis about why they're illiterate.
Of course this can vary region by region, school by school, and that's the point of quantifying -- you can use this knowledge to create different interventions for places with different root problems.
A conceptual framework won't help you because you DON'T want to see what can be done within each category. That'd be incredibly complex and time/money consuming. You'd only do that if each category contributes EQUALLY to the problem, and even then, you'd prioritize by the most cost-effective solutions first.
Illiteracy is multi-factorial in most developed countries because all the low-hanging fruit has been taken care of. If all the illiterate people are in the "not going to school" bucket and they're all not going to school because of a lack of public transportation, that's not a complex, multi-faceted problem to be solved. It's a logistics problem. Might not be easy to solve, but it's pretty simple.
So one problem I have with your approach is that the question specifically asks about "children who DO go to their public schools", and the whole bottom branch of your issue tree discusses the case of kids NOT going to school. I think your tree fits the question of general literacy rate problems, but not this specific question.
Hey Benjamin, my fault. It’s a wording problem.
What I meant in the original question was to include all kids that are in the public school system and exclude kids in private schools or homeschooling.
These kids are in the system but still might not attend school because of lack of infrastructure or skipping class, etc.
Again, wording problem on my part - hope the example was still useful despite that.
@@CraftingCases yep, that makes more sense, thanks. Keep up the great work!
@@benjaminfistein2026 Will do! Can I ask you a quick question?
Have you joined our free course yet? Why/why not? (Really asking this out of curiosity).
@@CraftingCases i haven't, the reason being that I haven't seen it yet :) just been browsing around for now, but I'll check it out
@@benjaminfistein2026 Interesting! I asked that to understand why people who watch some of our more "obscure" videos (like this one) haven't joined our free course yet :)
So, just to see if I understood you, you haven't joined the free course yet because you didn't know the course existed yet -- did I get that right? (we talk about the course at the end of every video, but mostly only in the end so trying to figure out if a lot of people don't see that).
Brilliant
Cool & excellent
your issue tree does not cover the quality of the education itself, such as the curriculum and how are they checking a students ability to learn. Maybe the exams are super tough compared to what they are being taught which is making it look like education is bad. so the pronlem is not with teachers or students but the exams and curriculum.
Hey Kash,
The case is about illiteracy. I simple assumed that there are reasonable standards of measuring literacy, as there are in the real world.
If this case were about poor education in a very generic sense, I'd agree with you, but I don't think a government would be concerned with their kids abilities to read if their kids could read perfectly but for obscure Shakespeare sonnets.
.