The Story of

​

Creekside Condominium

At Creekside Condominium in Vancouver,

trees were planted

in the shared courtyard.

However, tall growing trees were planted by

mistake, rather than short trees.

By mistake, tall,

fast-growing trees

were planted rather than short, slow growing trees.

After a few years, the trees grew and covered

the views of a number of apartments.

People were sharply divided over whether to remove the trees or leave them alone.

It became very acrimonious.

The directors were under a lot of pressure from

both sides. They faced a no-win situation.

They heard about Ethelo, and asked if we could help.

Which Trees?

We identified the general issues. It wasn’t complex.

Which Trees?

But it wasn’t a black and white decision either.

Which Trees?

Which Trees?

There were

actually quite a

few possibilities.

Which Trees?

= $850/tree

= $80/tree

= $300/tree

= $0

(10)

(5)

(3)

$250 house call fee

There

were also

financial factors. They had a small budget

A simple breakdown showed 36 possible outcomes

We configured Ethelo and invited

residents to participate.

Each apartment was

given an online

access code.

​

Owners with 2 units had double influence.

They were able to log into a user-friendly interface

They we able to score each of the 10 options on a scale

They were able to discuss the issues and options with other participants

They were able to weigh the relative importance of the different issues

As they proceeded, they could see their favourite choice emerge, along with the cost implications of that choice.

The Ethelo algorithm used the information provided by the participants to predict the distribution of support for each of the 36 scenarios.

It searched for a “fair” outcome that would leave everyone roughly equally happy.

In the end, the Ethelo result surprised everyone.

​

Despite a highly polarized debate, it found a solution that almost everyone supported.

Ethelo recommended a compromise that no one had suggested, or even considered:

Just prune the offending trees.

​

It was no one’s first choice… but no one opposed it.

It was also one of the

cheapest outcomes!

The result: Council voted to simply prune the trees that were blocking the views.

​

There was no opposition.

“We were delighted with the recent results achieved by Ethelo. We recommend Ethelo as an effective tool in dispute resolution and decision optimization.”

​

Terry Li, Rancho Management Services

Postscript:

​

We reconnected with the management company a year later, and asked how it went.

​

The conversation simply ended, they said.

​

They were delighted.