Appreciation
Extracting Maximum Information from Facts
Appreciation is a very simple but powerful technique for extracting the maximum amount of information from a simple fact.
How to Use the Tool:
Starting with a fact, ask the question 'So what?' i.e. what are the implications of that fact? Keep on asking that question until you have drawn all possible inferences.
Example:
Appreciation is a technique used by military planners, so we will take a military example:
Fact: It rained heavily last night
So What?
– The ground will be wet
So What?
– It will turn into mud quickly
So What?
– If many troops and vehicles pass over the same ground, movement will be progressively slower and more difficult as the ground gets muddier and more difficult.
So What?
– Where possible, stick to paved roads. Otherwise expect movement to be much slower than normal.
While it would be possible to reach this conclusion without the use of a formal technique, Appreciation provides a framework within which you can extract information quickly, effectively and reliably.
Key points:
Asking 'so what?' repeatedly helps you to extract all important information implied by a fact.
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