Protocol
Look at the problem through nine windows
A problem can look permanent when you inspect only the middle square.
When it fits
- The solution search is trapped at the current system level and current moment.
When to avoid it
- Future windows are scenarios, not predictions; keep uncertainty explicit.
Why it matters
Draw a 3×3 grid: subsystem, system and supersystem vertically; past, present and future horizontally. Describe the problem and relevant resources in each window. Use the grid to reveal causes inherited from the past, solutions available in a neighboring level, and future constraints your local fix may create.
Steps
- Present system is described in the center.
- Present subsystem and supersystem are identified.
- Relevant past states are described at all three levels.
- Plausible future states or pressures are described at all three levels.
- At least one new option or risk comes from a non-center window.
An example
For recurring mass-update errors, inspect the source-data subsystem, the current MDG workflow, the wider replication landscape, and how each changed before and may change after S/4 migration.
Check your result
The team generates a useful hypothesis, resource or option that was invisible in the original present-system frame.
Keep this limit in mind
- Future windows are scenarios, not predictions; keep uncertainty explicit.
Connected ideas
Useful withMove the problem boundary outward when the local frame is stuck
Evidence and sources
The Nine Windows technique examines a problem across past, present and future at subsystem, system and supersystem levels.
The grid widens perspective; it does not identify causal relationships or predict the future by itself.
Nine Windows Technique Framework for the Future · Nine Windows grid