Top Down vs Bottom Up Analysis

There are two ways to approach problem solving and decision making. As the title implies, these are Top Down and Bottom Up.

Top Down analysis focuses on using comprehensive factors as a basis for decision-making. It takes a step back and looks at the macro view, and determine what is the best decision based on a holistic approach. It focuses on broad ideas to problem solving then gradually narrows the scope down.

Bottom Up, the more common way the world generally approaches things, focuses on the micro view and tackles the issues directly. It focuses on the narrow scope of what you're trying to do and attempts to make decisions that impact that without thinking about the macro as much. It focuses on the specific area of problem solving then gradually tries to scope up to cover broader issues when necessary.

While Bottom Up is more common, I think Top Down is a much better way to approach most problem solving decision making. It gives you a much broader picture and allows you to make broad scope decisions that can have a great impact, then niche down as you narrow the scope layer by layer.

In the Bottom Up approach, you may quickly resolve whatever you're attempting to solve, but it can greatly limit your view and create a lot of issues down the road if the solution you proposed worked great at the time it was implemented but does not allow for easy expansion when the solution needs to adapt or change.

Here are two other resources that describes these methods applied in separate scenarios. One is for investment analysis and the other more for analysis across different verticals. You can apply these to any number of decision making but these serves as a good example of understanding how each approach works.