1. Solving Business Problem
1.1. Sell your solution
1.1.1. Sell without Selling
1.1.1.1. Be there at the right time and make sure the right people know who you are
1.1.2. Becareful what you promise
1.1.2.1. Don't bite off more than you can chew
1.1.3. Doing Research
1.1.3.1. Start with report
1.1.3.2. Look for outliers, things that are especially good or bad.
1.1.3.3. Look for The Best Practice
1.2. Assembling a team
1.2.1. Getting the mix right
1.2.2. A little team bonding goes a long way
1.2.3. Take your team's teamperature to maintain morale
1.2.3.1. Take your team's temparature
1.2.3.2. Steer a stady course
1.2.3.3. Let your teammates knwo why they are doing what they're doing
1.2.3.4. Get to know your teamates as people
1.2.4. Treat your teammates with respect
1.3. Managing hierarchy
1.3.1. Make your boss look good
1.3.1.1. If you make your boss look good, your boss will make you look good.
1.3.2. Aggresive strategy for managing hierarchy
1.3.2.1. Assert your equality until someone tell you otherwise
1.4. Conducting interviews
1.4.1. Write an interview guide
1.4.1.1. What are the questions to which you need answers? Write them all down in any order
1.4.1.2. what do you really need from this interview? What are you trying to achieve? Why are you talking to this person?
1.4.1.3. Know as much as possible about interviewee in advance
1.4.1.4. Start with general questions and move on to specific one
1.4.1.5. Include some questions you already know the answer to have insights into interviewee's honesty
1.4.2. When conducting the interview, Listen and guide
1.4.2.1. When you’re picking people’s brains, ask questions and then let them do the talking. Most people like to talk, especially if you let them know you’re interested in what they’re saying. Keep the interview on track by breaking in when necessary
1.4.2.2. If you want people to say more than they have, if you think they have left out something important but you’re not sure what it is, say nothing. Let the silence hang.
1.4.3. Tips for successful interview
1.4.3.1. Have their boss set up the meeting
1.4.3.2. Interview in pair to keep observeing and keeping note
1.4.3.3. Listen, don't lead the answer
1.4.3.4. Paraphase back the information for them to have change to correct the information
1.4.3.5. Use indirect approach, be sensitive to interviewee's feelings
1.4.3.6. Dont ask too much, only the important questions
1.4.3.7. Adopt the Columbo tactic, ask the questions on the way out or after some time when the interviewee is relaxed
1.4.4. Don't leave the interviewee naked, understand their anxiety
1.4.5. Always write a thank you note
1.5. Brain Storming
1.5.1. Proper prior preparation
1.5.2. In a white room
1.5.2.1. There are no bad ideas
1.5.2.2. There are no dumb questions
1.5.2.3. Be prepare to kill you babies
1.5.2.4. Know when to say when to take a break
1.5.2.5. Get it down on paper
1.5.3. Some brainstorming exercise
1.5.3.1. The Post-itTM exercise. Give everyone in the room a pad of sticky notes. The participants then write out any relevant ideas they have, one idea per note, and hand them over to the leader, who reads them aloud.
1.5.3.2. The flipchart exercise. Put a number of flipcharts around the room, each one labeled with a different category or issue. Each team member then goes around the room writing ideas down on the appropriate flipchart.
2. Thinking about Business Problems
2.1. Building Solution
2.1.1. Fact-based
2.1.1.1. Fact compensate for lack of gut instint
2.1.1.2. Facts bridge the credibility gap
2.1.2. Rigidly Structure
2.1.2.1. MECE (Mutually Exclusive, Collectively exhaustive)
2.1.3. Hypothesis-driven
2.1.3.1. Solve the problem at the first meeting- The initial hypothesis
2.1.3.1.1. Defining the initial hypothesis
2.1.3.1.2. Generating the initial hypothesis
2.1.3.1.3. Testing the initial hypothesis
2.2. Developing an approach
2.2.1. The Problem is not always the problem
2.2.1.1. The only way to figure out if the problem you have been given is the real problem is to dig deeper. Get facts. Ask questions. Poke around.
2.2.2. Don't Reinvent the wheel
2.2.2.1. Most business problems resemble each other more than they differ. This means that with a small number of problem-solving techniques, you can answer a broad range of questions. These techniques may be somewhere in your organization, either written down or in the heads of your fellow employees. If not, use your experience to develop your own tool kit
2.2.3. No One-size fit all Solutions
2.2.3.1. That there are many similarities between business problems does not mean that similar problems have similar solutions. You have to validate your initial hypothesis (or your gut) with fact-based analysis. This will put you in a much better position to get your ideas accepted.
2.2.4. Don't make the Facts fit your solution
2.2.4.1. Avoid the temptation to view your initial hypothesis as the answer and the problem-solving process as an exercise in proving the IH. Keep an open and flexible mind. Don’t let a strong initial hypothesis become an excuse for mental inflexibility.
2.2.5. Make sure your Solution fits your client
2.2.5.1. The most brilliant solution, backed up by libraries of data and promising billions in extra profits, is useless if your client or business can’t implement it. Know your client. Know the organization’s strengths, weaknesses, and capabilities—what management can and cannot do. Tailor your solutions with these factors in mind.
2.2.6. Sometime you have to let the solution come to you
2.2.6.1. The McKinsey rules of problem solving, like all rules, have their exceptions. You will not be able to form an initial hypothesis every time. Sometimes, the client will not know what the problem is, just that there is a problem. Other times, the scope of your project will be so large—or so vague—that starting with an IH will be worthless. Still other times, you will be breaking new ground and nothing in your experience will point to a solution. Don’t panic! If you get your facts together and do your analyses, the solution will come to you.
2.2.7. Some problem you can't solve
2.2.7.1. Redefine the problem
2.2.7.1.1. Do it early on
2.2.7.2. Tweak your way to a solution
2.2.7.2.1. A solution don't have to be used right away. It can be used over time when it can be optimized
2.2.7.3. Work through the politics
2.2.7.3.1. you must think about how your solution affects the players in an organization. You must then build a consensus for change that takes account of the different incentives and organizational factors driving the politics. Consensus building may require you to change your solution to make it acceptable.
2.3. 80/20 and other rules to live by
2.3.1. 80/20
2.3.1.1. The 80/20 rule is one of the great truths of management
2.3.2. Don't boil the sea
2.3.2.1. Work smarter not harder. Know when you have done enough, then stop.
2.3.3. Find the key Drivers
2.3.3.1. Many factors affect your business. Focus on the most important ones
2.3.4. The elevator test
2.3.4.1. Know your solution so throughly that you can explain it clearly anf precisely in 30 secs
2.3.5. Pluck the low-hanging fruit
2.3.5.1. Seize the easy winto boost morale and increase the crebility
2.3.6. Make a chart everyday
2.3.6.1. Put everything you learned each day on paper, it helps push your thinking
2.3.7. Hit Singles
2.3.7.1. It's impossible to do everything yourself all the tiem
2.3.7.2. If you manage it once, you raise unrealistic expectation
2.3.7.3. once you fail to meet the expectation, it is very difficult to regain crebility
2.3.8. Look at the big picture
2.3.8.1. Take the step back to see what you doing is the right way to solve the problems
2.3.9. Just say "I Don't Knbow"
2.3.9.1. Professional integrity is important, Regonize when you have not got a clue. It is a lot less costly than bluffing.
2.3.10. Don't Accept "I Have No Idea"
2.3.10.1. people always have an idea if you probe just a bit.
3. Selling Solutions
3.1. Making Presentation
3.1.1. Be Structured
3.1.1.1. Take audience down the path of your logic in clear, easy to follow steps
3.1.2. Resist the temptationto tweak your presentation right up to the last minute.
3.1.3. Presnentaion should contain nothing new for the audience, walk all the players through your presentaion before gather them into one room
3.1.4. Prewire Everything
3.2. Display data with chart
3.2.1. Keep it simple- one message per chart
3.2.2. Use a waterfall chart to show the flow
3.3. Managing internal communications
3.3.1. Keep the information flowing
3.4. 3 keys to an effective message
3.4.1. Brevity
3.4.1.1. Write down your message to 3 or 4 points
3.4.2. Thoroughness
3.4.2.1. Contain everything audience need to know, don't just check in
3.4.3. Structure
3.4.3.1. be readily understood, follow areadily apparent to audience
3.5. Always look over your shoulder
3.5.1. Know when to talk and when cant, be paranoid
3.6. Working with Clients
3.6.1. Keep the client team on your side
3.6.1.1. make sure everyone understand why their efforts are important to your and beneficial for them
3.6.2. Deal with "liability" client team member
3.6.3. Engage the client in the process
3.6.4. Get solution throughout the organization