MECE principle

The MECE principle, mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive, is a grouping principle which says that data in a group should be divided into subgroups that comprehensively represent that group (no gaps) without overlapping. This is desirable for the purpose of analysis, because it avoids both the problem of double counting and the risk of overlooking information.

The MECE principle is useful in the business mapping process. If information can be arranged exhaustively and without double counting in each level of the hierarchy, the way of arrangement is ideal.

Examples of MECE categorization would include categorizing people by year of birth (assuming all years are known). A non-MECE example would be categorization by nationality, because nationalities are neither mutually exclusive (some people have dual nationality) nor collectively exhaustive (some people have none).

Is MECE MECE?

The MECE principle does not adhere to itself. As a collection of grouping principles it is mutually exclusive, but not collectively exhaustive as other grouping principles such as vertical and horizontal congruence are not included.

Use

The MECE principle is referenced extensively in approaches used by the consulting firm McKinsey.

See also

• Case analysis
• Partition of a set for a mathematical treatment