The MECE principle (mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive) is a grouping principle for separating a set of items into subsets that are mutually exclusive (ME) and collectively exhaustive (CE).
[1] It was developed in the late 1960s by Barbara Minto at McKinsey & Company and underlies her Minto Pyramid Principle,[2] and while she takes credit for MECE, according to her interview with McKinsey, she says the idea for MECE goes back as far as to Aristotle.
[2] The MECE principle has been used in the business mapping process wherein the optimum arrangement of information is exhaustive and does not double count at any level of the hierarchy.
In Six Sigma, the DMAIC process is used, but executive audiences looking for a summary or overview may not be interested in the details.
By reorganizing the information using MECE and the related SCQA storytelling framework, the point of the topic can be addressed quickly and supported with appropriate detail.