# Conflict Resolution Diagram

> Map a two-sided conflict and find the assumption that keeps it stuck.

Chapter III, Problem solving · 3.03 · Origin: Eliyahu M. Goldratt (1990) · Time: 20 to 40 min · Solo or group

**Use it when** two sides want incompatible things and both seem right.

Interactive workspace: https://kogu.tools/tools/conflict-resolution-diagram

## Abstract

When two people want opposite things, they usually share a goal further up. Each position is one way of protecting something that side needs, and both needs serve that goal. Eliyahu Goldratt's diagram, also called the Evaporating Cloud, draws this as five boxes: the goal, two needs and two wants.

Read aloud, the diagram becomes a chain of sentences like "In order to keep customers, we must ship faster." Each arrow rests on assumptions. If one of them turns out to be false, the conflict often goes away, and you can look for an injection: a new option that covers both needs.

## Method

1. **Name the two wants.** Write down the two positions that seem to rule each other out. These are D and D'.
2. **Find the need behind each.** Ask each side why their position matters to them. The answers are the needs, B and C.
3. **Find the shared goal.** Ask what both needs are for. That's A, and both sides should be able to agree with it.
4. **List the assumptions on each arrow.** Read each arrow as "in order to ..., we must ..., because ..." and write down every because you can think of.
5. **Design an injection.** Pick the weakest assumption and find an action that makes it untrue. Then check that both needs are still met.

## When to use it

- Two people or teams are stuck pulling in opposite directions on a decision.
- You're torn between two options yourself and every compromise feels bad.
- The same argument keeps coming back in a slightly different form.

## Common pitfalls

- Going straight to a compromise. Splitting the difference usually leaves both needs half met.
- Writing a shared goal that only one side really agrees with.
- Only questioning the other side's assumptions. Your own arrows have them too.
- Picking an injection that drops one of the needs without anyone noticing.

## References

- Goldratt, E. M. (1990). What Is This Thing Called Theory of Constraints and How Should It Be Implemented? North River Press.
- Goldratt, E. M. (1994). It's Not Luck. North River Press.
- Dettmer, H. W. (2007). The Logical Thinking Process. ASQ Quality Press.