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The Prerequisite Tree
realise that every obstacle can be overcome by attaching a corresponding
intermediate objective, thus giving everyone involved a more consistent
strategy
understand that correct timing will make it possible to achieve all the
objectives and therefore co-ordinate the tactics/actions of everyone involved
Example: Tea
Mission (we want to have a nice cup of tea in the wilderness)
Participants in this ambitious target may raise the following obstacles
Obs-1 We do
not have material to burn
Obs-2 Collection
of such material is not allowed in the wilderness.
Obs-3 There
could be a strong wind
Obs-4 We
do not have matches
Obs-5 We
do not have cups
Obs-6 We
don’t have a container to boil the water
Some of the obstacles are not really difficult to overcome, but we had better not forget them. Actually, we can combine obstacles 4-5-6 into one, such as we always forget to bring everything needed for preparing tea.
Obs-1 We do
not have material to burn
Obs-2 Collecting
of such material in the wilderness is not allowed
Obs-3 There
can be a strong wind
Obs-4 We
tend to forget to bring everything needed to prepare the tea
Obstacle 4 can be overcome by
Intermediate Obiective-4.1:
We have a packing list for the tea activity
Intermediate Obiective
-4.2: The tea kit is loaded into the car
Both Obs-1 and Obs-2 can be overcome by taking some pieces of wood with us in the trunk of the car. In other cases people may suggest that if the objective is to have the tea, we may not actually need to have a fire, but a mobile gas apparatus would do the trick. Creativity is wonderful when you know how to channel it.
Obs-3 can be overcome by having a sheltered place to light the fire.
At this point we have a list of three Intermediate Objectives (IOs)
IO-1:
We have some pieces of wood in the trunk of the car.
IO-3
We have a sheltered place to light the fire
IO-4.1:
We have a packing list for the tea activity
IO-4.2:
The tea kit is loaded into the car
The last bit is to sort the sequencing of the Intermediate Objectives (IOs), which one has to be in place before the other, and which IOs are not dependent and can be achieved in parallel.
IO-4.1 must be achieved before IO-4.2, otherwise we may prepare and load an incomplete kit into the car.
IO-1 can be achieved in parallel to IO-4.1
and IO-4.2 unless we want to load the pieces of wood last, so that they
will be the first to be unloaded from the car. In this case we state
that IO-4.1 and IO-1 must be achieved before IO-4.2.
IO-3 will be dealt with when we get to
the picnic place and therefore is the last one to achieve before we start
the process of preparing the tea. Technically one can say that IO-3 is
not dependent on the completion of IO-4-2. But, what is the point
of searching for a sheltered place if we don’t have pieces of wood or the
tea kit?
We can put it in a schematic form – the
IO Map:


When all IOs are agreed on, the leader
assigns responsibility to individuals to handle the specific Intermediate
Objectives (IOs). The PRT is the way to synchronize the efforts of
the team members in achieving the ambitious target.
The use of PrT and TrT
form the backbone of a synchronized work mechanism and in this respect
contain the basic seeds of project management.