Phoenix Checklist
Updated 2026-08-16
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
The Phoenix checklist is a problem-analysis tool developed by the CIA, organized into a problem inquiry, questions about the problem itself, and a solution inquiry, questions about the proposed answer, with roughly forty questions in total covering every angle of both. Its purpose is systematic examination that ensures no critical perspective is missed, and it suits strategic planning, startup ideation, and complex problem analysis.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Interrogate the problem first: ask what it is and why it needs solving at all - Then interrogate the answer: press hard on assumptions, alternatives, and the decision criteria - Answer honestly or not at all: mark every question you actually skipped
Anchor fast decisions
Intuition examines a problem from the one angle it already favors, so a categorized checklist forces the other perspectives into the room. Splitting the questions between the problem and the solution keeps the definition itself under scrutiny, because a wrong problem makes even a perfect solution irrelevant.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- modelthinkers.comhttps://www.modelthinkers.com/public/mental-model/the-phoenix-checklistverified
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