Tree of Thought

Tree of Thought (ToT) extends chain-of-thought by exploring multiple reasoning paths rather than committing to a single path. It is useful for problems where the optimal solution requires exploring alternatives — strategy questions, design decisions, multi-constraint optimization. The cost is significantly higher than linear CoT: you are generating and evaluating multiple reasoning branches.

# Single-prompt ToT implementation

Problem: We need to reduce customer onboarding time from 3 weeks to under 1 week
while maintaining compliance requirements and not increasing headcount.

Generate 3 distinct solution approaches. For each approach:
1. State the core mechanism (what it does)
2. Estimate time reduction (how much it reduces onboarding time)
3. Identify the primary risk (what could go wrong)
4. Rate feasibility: Low / Medium / High (given our constraints)

After generating all 3 approaches, select the best approach and justify
why it outperforms the alternatives on the constraints provided.

Approach 1:
[Core mechanism:]
[Time reduction:]
[Primary risk:]
[Feasibility:]

Approach 2:
[Core mechanism:]
[Time reduction:]
[Primary risk:]
[Feasibility:]

Approach 3:
[Core mechanism:]
[Time reduction:]
[Primary risk:]
[Feasibility:]

Best approach: [selection and justification]