🎯 CAF (Consider All Factors) Maltese Mental Models

🎯 CAF (Consider All Factors) Maltese Mental Models


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Part 4 of the Maltese Mental Models series on Edward de Bono’s thinking tools

The startup had everything: brilliant team, innovative product, strong funding. Six months later, they were dead. The post-mortem revealed a factor nobody had considered: their target market’s purchasing cycle was 18 months, not the 3 months they’d assumed. This single overlooked factor killed a company that got everything else right.

This is why Edward de Bono created CAF (Consider All Factors)—because the factors that destroy plans are rarely the obvious ones.

🔍 Why CAF Matters: The Hidden Factor Problem

Our brains are prediction machines, constantly filtering information to focus on what seems important. This efficiency becomes a liability when making decisions. We naturally consider 3-5 obvious factors and feel confident we’ve been thorough. Meanwhile, a dozen critical factors lurk in our blind spots.

What We Think We See vs. What CAF Reveals
Decision Type Typical Factors Considered Critical Factors Often Missed
Job Change Salary, role, location Commute impact on family, learning curve stress, industry trajectory, manager’s reputation
Product Launch Features, price, competition Support burden, partner dependencies, seasonal factors, regulatory changes coming
Home Purchase Price, size, neighborhood School redistricting plans, flood plain maps, planned construction, HOA politics

CAF doesn’t just add a few more factors to your list—it fundamentally changes how you approach decisions. It’s the difference between a flashlight and a floodlight.

🛠 The CAF System: Three Layers of Discovery

CAF works through systematic expansion of your thinking radar. Unlike PMI which evaluates a single idea, CAF maps the entire territory before you make a decision.

Layer 1: The Obvious Core

Start with factors that immediately come to mind. Don’t judge their importance yet—just list them. This typically yields 5-10 factors and takes 2-3 minutes. These are your “flashlight” factors—what everyone sees.

Layer 2: The Stakeholder Expansion

Now systematically consider each stakeholder affected by your decision. But here’s the advanced move: classify them by alignment:

Stakeholder Alignment Map
Category Description Strategy
Aligned Share your goals, benefit from success Understand their success factors
Non-Aligned Different goals, potential opposition Identify their concerns early
🤝 Potentially Aligned Could be won over with right approach Find mutual benefits
😐 Neutral Unaffected but could influence others Keep informed to prevent opposition
Toxic May appear aligned but harmful to broader good Minimize influence while managing carefully

The Toxic Stakeholder Paradox: Some stakeholders might support your project for reasons that ultimately harm the broader community. A payday lender might love your financial app integration, but their involvement could hurt your reputation and users. Identify these actors early—they often appear as enthusiastic allies but operate from extractive rather than generative mindsets.

The Coalition of the Willing Principle: Build your coalition carefully. Sometimes success depends less on convincing everyone and more on assembling the right alliance of genuinely aligned stakeholders who share your values and can influence the neutral while managing both the non-aligned and toxic actors.

For each stakeholder group, ask: “What factors matter to them?” This typically doubles your factor list while revealing political dynamics.

Layer 3: The Dimension Scan (TRICK²)

Finally, run through these dimension checks using the TRICK² mnemonic (TRICK squared—because the Contrarian dimension doubles your insight):

Dimension Questions to Ask Often Reveals
Time What changes over time? What has different impacts short vs. long term? Seasonal variations, lifecycle issues, timing dependencies
💰 Resources What resources are needed? What competes for these resources? Hidden costs, opportunity costs, resource conflicts
🔁 Interactions How do factors influence each other? What creates ripple effects? Feedback loops, unintended consequences, system dynamics
🌎 Context What external factors influence this? What trends affect it? Regulatory changes, cultural shifts, technology evolution
Konstraints What limits exist? What can’t be changed? (K for Key limits) Legal requirements, physical limitations, policy boundaries
🔍 ²Contrarian What minority views exist? Who disagrees and why? Is our info firsthand? Suppressed concerns, future risks, orthodoxy blind spots

The Contrarian Check: The Second C in TRICK²

After TRICK, always add the Contrarian dimension (the ² in TRICK²):

  • Minority Report: What are the dissenting voices saying? Not just the loud critics, but the quiet skeptics?
  • Information Quality: Is your information firsthand or filtered through corporate PR, media narratives, or groupthink?
  • Sacred Cows: What assumptions is everyone afraid to question? What “obviously good” ideas might have dark sides?
  • Future Heretics: What views seem crazy now but might be mainstream in 5 years?

Remember TRICK²: The squared Contrarian check often reveals the factors that sink “sure things”—the concerns everyone dismissed as fringe that turn out to be fundamental.

💡 CAF in Action: The Complete Process

Example: Implementing a 4-Day Work Week

Layer 1 – Obvious Core (2 minutes):

  • Productivity impact
  • Employee satisfaction
  • Customer service coverage
  • Salary adjustments
  • Competitor advantages

Layer 2 – Stakeholder Expansion (5 minutes):

Stakeholder Alignment Additional Factors They Reveal
Employees with children ✅ Aligned Childcare availability on the fifth day, school schedule conflicts
Remote workers ✅ Aligned Time zone coverage gaps, async communication needs
IT department ⚠ Non-aligned System maintenance windows shrinking, security coverage concerns
International clients ⚠ Non-aligned Their work week expectations, Friday meeting conflicts
Part-time staff 😐 Neutral How to calculate equivalent benefits, scheduling complexity
HR team 🤝 Potentially aligned Policy rewrite workload, recruitment advantage potential

Coalition opportunity: Employees with children + Remote workers + HR team could champion the change, addressing IT and client concerns proactively.

Layer 3 – Dimension Scan (TRICK²) (5 minutes):

Dimension Specific Factors Discovered
Time • Q4 is always busiest—worst time to reduce coverage
• 6-month adjustment period before productivity stabilizes
• Summer Fridays already informal—easier transition
💰 Resources • Need $50K for scheduling software upgrade
• Overtime budget increases 15% for deadline weeks
• Office utilities save $200K/year with one day closed
🔁 Interactions • Compressed schedule may increase burnout, reducing the happiness gains
• Better retention could reduce hiring costs by 30%
• Innovation sessions need 2+ hour blocks—easier with longer days
🌎 Context • New labor law mandates overtime for 10+ hour days
• Three competitors announced 4-day trials last month
• Post-pandemic work expectations have permanently shifted
Konstraints • Union contract requires 6-month notice for schedule changes
• Client SLAs guarantee 5-day coverage
• Building lease requires 24/7 security presence
🔍 Contrarian • Two senior engineers privately worry about “always-on” pressure increasing
• Microsoft’s 4-day trial failed—but their report was buried
• Parents without childcare say this helps wealthy employees only
• One client privately called this “tech industry virtue signaling”

Total factors discovered: 38 (vs. the initial 5—and the Contrarian check revealed 4 critical risks no one was discussing openly)

🎯 The CAF Power Move: Factor Prioritization

After expanding your factor list, you need to focus. Not all factors deserve equal attention. Use this prioritization matrix:

Factor Priority Matrix
Impact →
Control ↓
High Impact Low Impact
High Control 🎯 CRITICAL
Address these first
📋 QUICK WINS
Handle if time permits
Low Control MONITOR
Plan contingencies
👁 AWARE
Note but don’t obsess

This prevents CAF paralysis—when discovering many factors leads to decision gridlock. You acknowledge all factors but focus energy where it matters most.

⚡ CAF + PMI: The Decision Power Combo

CAF naturally flows into PMI. Once CAF reveals all factors, use PMI to evaluate your options against these factors:

  1. Use CAF first to map the complete decision landscape
  2. Prioritize factors using the impact/control matrix
  3. Apply PMI to each option, considering high-priority factors
  4. Make decisions with confidence you’ve seen the full picture

This combination is particularly powerful for complex decisions with multiple stakeholders and long-term implications.

⚠ Common CAF Mistakes and Fixes

Mistake Why It Happens The Fix
Factor Explosion Listing 100+ factors, becoming paralyzed Use the priority matrix; focus on top 20
Surface Scanning Staying in Layer 1, missing hidden factors Force yourself through all three layers
Solo Thinking Relying only on your perspective Ask others: “What am I not considering?”
Present Bias Focusing on immediate factors only Always ask: “How does this change over time?”
Category Blindness Missing entire categories of factors Use the dimension scan systematically
Consensus Trap Ignoring contrarian views and minority concerns Always run TRICK² including the Contrarian check

🎮 Practice Exercises: Build Your CAF Muscles

Exercise 1: Personal Decision CAF

Take a decision you’re facing. Set a timer for 12 minutes:

  • 2 minutes: Layer 1 (obvious factors)
  • 5 minutes: Layer 2 (stakeholder factors)
  • 5 minutes: Layer 3 (dimension scan)

Count your factors. Aim for 25+. Notice which layer revealed the most surprising factors.

Exercise 2: Retroactive CAF

Think of a decision that went wrong. Apply CAF retroactively. Which missed factors caused the problems? Which layer would have caught them? This builds pattern recognition for future blind spots.

Exercise 3: Speed CAF

Practice on small decisions (where to eat lunch, which movie to watch). Do a 3-minute CAF. This builds the habit of comprehensive thinking even for minor choices.

Exercise 4: Group CAF

In your next team meeting, when facing a decision, suggest: “Let’s do a quick CAF—what factors are we considering?” Watch how the three layers reveal factors no individual would have seen.

Exercise 5: Domain CAF

Become a CAF expert in your field. Create a template of factors common to your type of decisions. Update it after each use. Over time, you’ll develop superhuman factor awareness in your domain.

🚀 Making CAF Second Nature

The goal isn’t to run formal CAF analysis for every decision. It’s to develop what de Bono called “factor sensitivity”—an automatic awareness of hidden factors. This happens through practice:

The CAF Journey: Your Personal Evolution

  1. Starting Out: Full CAF process feels overwhelming but reveals surprising factors (15-20 minutes per decision)
  2. Building Confidence: You begin applying quick CAF to everyday choices, catching factors others miss (5-10 minutes)
  3. Natural Integration: You automatically consider stakeholders and run TRICK² without conscious effort
  4. CAF Mastery: Factor awareness becomes your superpower—you spot missed elements in every plan, proposal, and conversation

Everyone’s journey is different. Some people develop stakeholder sensitivity first, others master TRICK² quickly. The key is consistent practice. Start with decisions that matter to you, where discovering hidden factors has real value.

You’ll know you’ve internalized CAF when you can’t help but notice: “But what about the impact on X?” or “Has anyone considered how this changes when Y happens?” This isn’t being negative—it’s seeing the full picture while others squint at fragments.

📊 Summary: Your Factor Awareness Upgrade

CAF transforms you from someone who considers the obvious to someone who sees the full system. In a world of increasing complexity, this is a superpower.

CAF Quick Reference
Tool: CAF (Consider All Factors)
Purpose: Comprehensive factor discovery before decisions
Process: Three layers: Obvious → Stakeholders → Dimensions
Time Required: 12-15 minutes for thorough analysis
Key Benefit: Catches factors that derail plans
Works Best With: PMI for evaluating options against factors

🎯 Next Steps

You now have two complementary tools: PMI for balanced evaluation and CAF for comprehensive factor awareness. Together, they form a decision-making foundation that’s both thorough and practical.

Ready to add another dimension? In the next article, we’ll explore OPV (Other People’s Views), which takes CAF’s stakeholder awareness and transforms it into deep empathy and perspective-taking.

But first, practice CAF on three decisions this week. Notice how many factors you typically miss. Watch how the three-layer process reveals what matters most. You’ll never make decisions the same way again.


Navigation: ← Previous: PMI (Plus, Minus, Interesting) | Series Start | Next: OPV (Other People’s Views) →

Part of the Maltese Mental Models series • Teaching Edward de Bono’s thinking tools for the AI age