Proposal Of The Straw Man To Solve Problems

The straw man proposal is an original problem-solving method that is increasingly used in the organizational field. It consists of a mechanism to generate ideas starting from a draft. With it, all the human and creative potential of the work teams and, above all, of each member of the group is used.

It should be noted that we are not facing the classic brainstorming or brainstorming  . The goal is to shape a temporary solution to a problem while working on something better. That straw man will be made up of very varied ideas that the group is contributing, they are proposals that can be joined together or eliminated at a given moment to rebuild that original draft.

The first time this technique was used was in the 1975 United States Department of Defense. The air force needed an urgent action plan and this technique was devised to give a quick and momentary response to that challenge. Later, this straw man would be replaced by “a man of stone” and later by “an iron man.”

The purpose was to achieve greater consistency and solidity to that strategy, to that plan. Let’s go deeper.

A simple and collaborative strategy to solve problems

The straw man proposal has become quite popular in recent years thanks to the well-known consulting firm McKinsey & Company. This global organization is basically in charge of solving problems. It serves large companies, institutions and even governments around the world.

The fact that they use this strategy as a mechanism to respond to the challenges they face already gives us a first clue of its usefulness. Its advantages are that it is easy to carry out, it favors the synergy of all the members of the organization and it favors the step-by-step construction of a more sophisticated and effective action strategy. Let’s know more data.

What is a straw man proposal?

The straw man proposal is a useful and effective problem solving tool for any group setting. The purpose is to build, shape and design a preliminary action plan as a draft, to tear it down and redefine it  together until a more effective response is found. It is going from the man of straw to the man of steel.

What advantages does this troubleshooting mechanism offer us?

We pointed it out at the beginning, we are not facing the classic technique of brainstorming. In this case, the starting point is a rough draft, an already designed base that constitutes the straw man himself. Later, there is a meeting in which each member contributes their ideas, criticisms and proposals, but always starting from a draft.

The advantages that it offers us on average are the following:

• It is a problem-solving approach that brings work teams together.
• Allow each member to show their competence and creativity.
• It favors feedback, planting better hypotheses by breaking down those that do not work.
• Improve the brainstorming process because you start from a previous plan (draft or straw man).
• This proposal prevents the group from getting stuck. You don’t look for perfection right from the start, you advance in phases: straw man, stone man, steel man, etc.

Straw man proposal what are the steps to build it?

The straw man proposal requires following very specific steps. Adjusting to them will allow the group to know what to expect and how to proceed. Also, what each member should know is that the reasoning behind any proposal must be discussed and refuted.

All perspectives will be taken into account to finally build a first feasible and logical strategy, which will be temporary. Later, more meetings will be held to finish fine-tuning that action plan.

Create the draft proposal

Each member of the group will individually create their own straw man proposal. That is, your approach strategy.

Presentation of the conceptual proposals

The second step is the submission of all the drafts. Each member presents his proposal for action to the others. The group analyzes it, debates it and demolishes those little useful ideas and registers those that are valid.

Discussion

Once all the interesting proposals of each member have been registered, each idea is discussed to screen, eliminate or accept which parts may be useful. With each of these elements a straw man will be built among all of them.

Conclusions

The straw man proposal is already being defined in a solid way at this stage. Parts continue to be demolished and others added, but little by little, more or less valid conclusions are reached.

Final decision

The straw man is already built. A final (but temporary) decision has been reached that can be enforced and on which all members agree. However, as we have indicated, the objective is to further refine that strategy to create a more solid, safe and effective plan of action.

To conclude, as we can see, it is a very interesting work dynamic that integrates all human capital to solve problems in phases. It is interesting, it is simple and today it is used in many work scenarios.