"McKinsey method" reading notes

1. Create a solution

On the basis of facts

Rigorous structuring

The assumption-oriented

2. Mece

"Mutual independence, complete exhaustion." The content list of the solution is independent and does not overlap, because overlap implies that the author's thinking is vague and confusing to the reader. It must then be ensured that it also encompasses all the content or matters related to the problem-"completely exhausted".

3. A satisfactory list of McKinsey issues will contain no less than 2 of the top level content, and no more than 5, preferably 3.

4. Defining the initial assumptions

Hypothesis is merely a theory to be proved or refuted. It's not the answer. If your initial assumptions are correct, walk along this path for a few months, and it will be the first slide in your situation statement. If it proves to be wrong, then by proving its error, you will also get enough information to the right answer.

By writing down your initial assumptions on paper and deciding how to prove or disprove it, you have established a roadmap that you can follow to the final and proven solution.

5. Creating the initial hypothesis (method)

In creating the initial assumptions, you don't need all the facts, just enough to have a good overall understanding of the industry and the problem. At the start of the project, it takes two hours to go through the industry's publications-mainly to absorb some of the flavor of the industry.

Structuring the initial assumptions begins with the key drivers that divide the problem into its constituent parts. For example, if corporate profits are heavily influenced by climate, the "climate" is the key driver for determining profits in specific seasons.

Next, record the top-level recommendations and divide them into questions.

6. Steps to develop

The only way to figure out whether the problem is true is to dig deeper. Collect facts, ask questions, and wander around. Usually it won't be long before you can figure out where you're going in the right direction.

As a corollary to avoiding fits solutions, you must be careful not to blindly trust your own guts. So even if your initial assumptions may be correct, take enough time to verify your boldness with the facts.

No matter how good, how deep, how fundamental you think your initial assumptions are, you must be prepared to accept the fact that it may prove "you are wrong".

How to avoid this trap as soon as possible. Or stop by the continual collection and analysis of facts, ask yourself what have you learned in the past week? How adaptable is the new information to your initial assumptions? If not, how might it change your assumptions? Doing this little reality test right away will save you time in a dead end.

The best solution, even with a mountain of data support, and the assurance that you can win extra profits that can't be counted, is useless if your client or business is unable to implement it. To understand the strengths, weaknesses and capabilities of the organization-what management can do and what management cannot do. In your mind, you need to tailor your solution to these factors.

The initial assumption is not a prerequisite for a successful resolution of the problem. There are initial assumptions that will help you organize and deepen your thinking, but if you cannot make an initial assumption, don't lose heart. Any McKinsey consultant will tell you that there is no business problem that can hide the power of analysis based on fact. As long as you put enough facts together and combine them with some creative thinking, you will naturally come to a solution.

7. McKinsey's approach to thinking about corporate issues

80/20 Principles

The 80/20 principle is a big truth in management consulting, and, by and large, a big truth in business. You will see this pattern wherever you look, but as long as you open your glasses and analyze the 80/20 example of your line, you will come up with a way to improve the rule.

Don't try to boil the whole ocean.

Don't try to analyze all the things. Make a choice and find out what you want to prioritize. Stop when you know that you've done enough. Otherwise, you will spend a lot of time and effort to do little, like boiling the sea for a salt.

Discover key Drivers

There are many factors that affect our answers, but perhaps the most important is only 3 x, Y, Z

Focusing on the key drivers is the direct drilling to the core of the problem, rather than a piece, layer by layer to pick up the problem. Next, you use a thorough, fact-based analysis, to this point, it can play its maximum role, to avoid the dead end of the road.

30 Seconds Elevator Test

How to condense 6 months of work to 30 seconds. Start with the questions your team is trying to explain. Customers want to know the advice and profitability of each issue. If you have a lot of advice, keep an eye on the 3 most important recommendations-the one with the most profit. Don't worry about supporting information, wait until you have time to talk about it.

"We think that if you reorganize the sales team by the Purchaser category, the sales of the ornaments can be increased by 50% within 3 years. We can discuss the details at any time. Have a good talk with your lawyer.

Pick the fruit first.

Sometimes, the opportunities that arise during the problem-solving process will allow you to win easily, improve immediately, and even before the whole problem is resolved. Seize these opportunities and they will create a small victory for you and your team. This will inspire morale by demonstrating your insight and seriousness to anyone who is likely to be watching it, giving you additional credibility.

Make a chart every day

You can sit for half an hour at the end of the day and ask yourself, "What are the 3 most important things I've learned today?" "Put their points in the form and put them in places that are not easy to lose."

Hit a base at a base,

You can't finish all the work, so don't try.

If you manage to do it once, you will cause people around you to have unrealistic expectations.

Once you do not meet this expectation, it is very difficult to regain credibility.

To focus on the big picture

As one former McKinsey project manager told me: "Perhaps the most valuable thing I've learned during the company is to think about things from big pictures: Take a step back, figure out what you want to achieve, and then look at what's going on, and ask yourself, ' Does that really matter? ’“

Just say, "I don't know."

An important aspect of the work ethic is honesty-being honest with your clients, with your team members, and at the same time. Honesty involves admitting when you can't find a clue. It is less expensive to admit than to cheat.

Don't accept "I don't have a concept."

As long as you're a little bit inquisitive, people will always have some ideas. Ask a few key questions and you'll be amazed at what they know. By combining these ideas with the assumptions that have been made after your education, you can easily move along the path to solving the problem.

8. How to sell without a promotion

McKinsey never sells, in-house publications free of charge from its clients and past consultants (senior executives of today's potential customers)

Maintain a huge network of informal contacts: Charity, museum amateur activities

Your particular industry magazine is always looking for articles from industry insiders, and writing a good article can make your name appear in front of someone else who will never hear of you. You can also meet with your competitors and today's competitors are likely to change their jobs and become your customers tomorrow. Must let him know you!

All of this accumulates to ensure that when your client has a problem that needs you to make up, your name is what they can think of.

9. Be careful with your commitment: structuring the project

The challenge faced by the project manager is to strike a balance between the client's wishes and the budget and the team's limits. The ideal combination of these two opposing forces is a project that can be completed by a team of 4 to 6 advisers in 3-6 months, which results in a "tangible" result for the customer.

A good project manager can balance the competitive requirements of the customer and the team to the exact level. They told the client: "We're going to do a and B, we can do the C thing, but that's going to knock the team out." "And to the team members they would say:" Look, we have promised our customers to do the third thing, so we have to do it. "At the same time that the team was put to the limit, they made the customer feel that they had spent more money and exceeded their expectations."

Before you edgy to find a solution, there is a general idea of the scope of the problem. A better way is to sit down with the boss and divide the problem into parts you can swallow.

10. Composition Team

1>: Choose different people depending on the project type

2> a sensible project manager will interview potential team members before absorbing them in order to ensure that the real person is the same as the data.

3> There's a little team connection that can take a long way.

4> A good project manager will let the team know about the customer's information, so that the staff knows what it is worth to do.

11. Let your boss have a light on his face

1>. Do your best to do your job

2> In the Shanghai she needs, you have to make sure that you know everything your boss knows. Think about what your boss needs to know, what you want to know, and tell her with a clear, structured email.

12. An enterprising strategy to deal with the level of hierarchy

To be a successful consultant, you have to show yourself. In many cases, you will be in a situation where you have to assume that you can do something, or talk to someone, or you can approach certain information, even though you are not explicitly authorized to do so.

This is a risky strategy, especially if the organization is hierarchical.

13. Don't reinvent the wheel

No matter what the problem is, there are some people who have already done the same job in some places.

Find out who they are and keep in touch with them. Then do your research and ask yourself questions, which will save you a lot of time and energy.

Maybe you don't have a PD net, but as long as you work in a large organization, you may be exposed to most of your company's corporate memory---databases, documents, training manuals. There are colleagues, industry magazines, newspapers, databases. With just a few hours of drilling, you'll find a lot of information and valuable resources.

Special Research tips: Start with an annual report to find out what is exposed (best and worst) and find out the best experience.

14. Conduct a visit

1>. Write a visit outline

1. Write down all the answers you want, forget the order.

2. What do you really need in a visit? What do you want to achieve? Why are you visiting this guy?

3. Learn as much as you can about your interviewees before visiting.

2> pre-visit preparation skills

1 ". Now from the general problem, then turn to the special problem. Helps the interviewee to warm up

2 ". Include some questions that you know the answer to. It is possible to understand the level of honesty and knowledge of the respondents, and there may be other gains.

3 ". Ask yourself what 3 questions you want to ask before you visit.

4 ". Ask the interviewees if they have anything to say.

3> visiting Process Skills

1 ". Constantly inserting "yes", "I understand", "hmm", indicates that you are listening.

2 ". The body language notes that I am listening carefully.

3 ". If you want to talk to someone else, if you think they missed something important and you're not sure about it, then don't say anything, keep silent, and he'll talk.

4>. 7 tips for a successful visit

1 ". Ask the interviewee's boss to arrange a meeting.

2 ". Two of people visited together. One to remember a question.

3 ". Listen and don't guide. Ask open questions.

4 ". Retell, Retell, retell.

5 ". Adopt a way of beating the bush.

6 ". Don't ask too much, it's enough.

7 ". Adopt the strategy of the wave of examination. The visit ended, went out, and suddenly turned, "one thing I forgot to ask." Or in a day or two, and ask again.

5>: A difficult visit

When you come across a refusal to cooperate,

1 ". Tell him that someone wants to come over and ask questions.

2 ". Call his boss.

6>: Write a thank-you note to the end of the visit.

15. Introduction to the situation

To sell out your own solution.

1 ". Structured. Let the audience follow a clear, understandable logical step.

2 ". Diminishing marginal benefits. Resist the temptation to live in the last second forced to change your case description. It's worth the amount of this change, and the value of having a good night's sleep with you and your team. Don't let the best plan be the antithesis of good solutions.

3 ". Prepare for everything. A good business presentation should not include things that don't know nothing about the audience. Before bringing all the relevant personnel of the client to the conference room; Let them go through what you have found.

16. Display the data in a chart.

1 ". The guarantee is straightforward--each chart contains only one piece of information.

The more complex the chart, the less effective it will be to pass information.

McKinsey used the chart as a means of expressing information in an easy-to-understand form. The more concise things are, the easier it is to understand them.

So McKinsey printed the chart in black and white. Unless absolutely necessary, generally do not use three-dimensional graphics to convey information; Always adhere to the important principle that each chart contains only one piece of information. -The media that transmits information should not overwhelm the information itself, so it is forbidden to use distracting colors and three-dimensional images with certain deceptive features.

2 ". Use waterfall charts to display information.

Generally drawn as zero-based pillars, such as interest income, such as positive items are drawn to the top of the previous column to start the upward extension of the pillars, and like operating expenses such as negative items are drawn to the previous column of the high point began to extend the column. The total is the distance from the top of the last item to the horizontal axis. Subtotals can also be included in the same way.

17. Manage Internal communication

1 ". Let the information flow up.

To make your team work successfully, you have to let the information flow.

1> At a minimum, make sure your team is up to the general framework of the project, especially for large projects. "In-the-loop" helps the team's colleagues understand how their work contributes to the ultimate goal, and the value of their efforts. A good flow of information will help you find the problem as quickly as possible.

2>: Keep your boss up to speed with the team.

3> Internal communication has two basic methods: messaging and conferencing.

The meeting is the coagulant that binds the team together.

The two key to the success of the Conference is the agenda and leadership. Make sure you're as concise as possible on the profile agenda: there's no mistake in meeting frequently, but not necessarily longer.

Internal communication is unique: walk around to understand the situation, walking management.

2 ". Good business information has three concise, complete, structure.

3 ". Keep the company secret in all things.

18. Working with customers

1 ". How to work with the "bad guys" in the customer team: there's basically no use for people and people who want to fight.

1>. Talk him out.

2>. Work around them a little and give him some independent work to do.

3>. Use their talents as much as possible, and don't let sensitive information fall into their hands.

2 ". Let the customer participate in the process.

Support your efforts, provide the resources you need, and focus on the final results.

1>. Understand their plans and intentions.

2>. Early victories will give them a passion for your plan, and the bigger the victory, the better the situation.

3 ". Let the whole enterprise accept.

Submit the solution to each tier and tailor your solution to fit your audience.

4 ". Strict implementation

Be clear about what you need to do and what time you need to finish, and be clear about the level of detail and clarity that fools can understand.

19. Find your own Master

It depends on your luck how much help you can get from your formal mentor. If you want to be instructed, go outside and look for it.

20. Living on the road

Do not make travel and work pure consumption, if you have to pay attention in the long-term outside. Find a way to relax and relax after work. Go to a colleague, a member of the client team, or go to a college-age old friend, go for a meal, watch a show or a game.

Aircraft crew, outside the door, the client's assistants, who have more authority than you realize, and are willing to help those who respect them.

21. Take these three items wherever you go.

Passports, tickets and money.

Business trip: A copy of the travel plan, a list of the names and phone numbers of every person I want to see, a good book.

22. Work and life balance-set yourself the rules

Take one day a week, don't work.

Don't bring your work home.

Plan ahead

"McKinsey method" reading notes