Problem bridge solution slide with three numbered steps

What is on the slide

Problem

A 14 day median wait for a minor works permit in 2026. Forms arriving by post, by email and at the counter. 41% of counter calls asking where an application was.

Bridge

One: lodge online, one form and one queue with documents checked on upload. Two: triage on day one into simple, standard or referred. Three: track without calling, with the stage and officer name on the receipt.

Solution

A 3 day median for simple permits and twelve for referred ones. One queue sorted by lodgement date. Status calls down from 41% to 6% of counter calls.

Outcome band

Same team, same fees, three days instead of fourteen for a minor works permit.

When this is the right slide

Three columns with a bridge in the middle suit a change slide when the audience has heard the promised outcome before and needs the steps that produced it named in order.

What to swap it for

Comparison: 3 Row Number Bridge. Swap to the three row number bridge when the story reads better as three horizontal rows, each moving from a problem to a result, rather than as three vertical columns.

What this slide shows

A title reads Permits at Northgate over three columns. The PROBLEM column carries a warning icon and three rows: a 14 day median wait, since a minor works permit took 14 days from lodgement in 2026; paper in three places, because forms arrived by post, by email and at the counter; and chasing by phone, since 41% of counter calls asked where an application was. The BRIDGE column in the centre carries three numbered steps: lodge online, with one form, one queue and the documents checked on upload; triage on day one, where an officer sorts each permit into simple, standard or referred; and track without calling, where applicants see the stage and the officer name from the receipt. The SOLUTION column carries a check icon and three rows: a 3 day median wait, with simple permits clearing in three days and referred ones in twelve; one queue, where every application sits in one list sorted by lodgement date; and status calls at 6%, down from 41% of counter calls. A full width band closes the slide: same team, same fees, three days instead of fourteen for a minor works permit.

When this is the right slide

Use it when the audience has heard the promised outcome before and needs to see the work in between, in a service review, a council report, a transformation update or a case study. Three problems, three steps and three outcomes is the shape, and it works best when the steps really are the reason the outcomes moved. It is the wrong slide when the bridge is still a plan, because a middle column of intentions with a right column of projected results is a proposal dressed as a result. It is also wrong when there is one problem rather than three, where a single problem and solution pair says the same thing without padding. And it is wrong when the bridge has seven steps, which is a process diagram rather than three columns.

How to adapt it

First, write the outcomes against the problems, one for one, so nothing on the right appears without a matching item on the left. A reader checking the columns across will find any gap immediately. Second, make the bridge steps actions with a verb at the front: lodge, triage, track. A step written as improved intake tells nobody what was done. Third, close with what did not change. Same team and same fees is the line that makes this slide credible, because the first assumption about any improvement is that it was paid for somewhere else. If the improvement did cost something, say what, since a number named on the slide is always better than one found later.

What makes this slide work

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