Week 002

• Bill Gates - Co-founder of Microsoft
  • there are many paths to success
  • basic knowledge of sciences, economics
    • not necessary to actually know how to do it, but to know what is possible or not
• Howard Schultz - CEO of Starbucks
  • Believe you can succeed
• Reed Hastings - CEO and Co-founder of Netflix
  • Hierarchy of factories had dominated
  • creativity needs new ideas, lot more freedom, tolerate small mistakes
  • manage on edge of chaos
  • flexibility and innovation, not efficiency
  • inspiring people instead of supervising them
• Richard Branson - Founder of Virgin Group
  • Passion, enjoy what you do

• (Re)Frame/Define Problem: SCQ first
  • Situation: don't waste time, just align with what client wants
  • Complication: what has changed ?
  • Question: how to solve the problem arising from the change.
  • Only when we have a good grasp of the problem framing before moving on to generating hypotheses. Otherwise, go back to fact-finding to be more sure of your diagnosis.
  • We start off by Framing, then come back to ReFrame if our discussions find the original problem framed is not adequate/appropriate/too wide/narrow, i.e. when the team is stuck
• Generate Hypotheses: to Converge ideas: testable assumption/solution/option
  • Six Sigma DMAIC is purist/comprehensive way of solving problems
    • that's why for consultants, use hypotheses solving, place your bet by testing
    • bet based on back of envelop testing
    • if selected hypothesis is not proven, move on to next bet
  • Options are always many, usually the problem is how to whittle down the many solutions into workable action plans
  • Why turning possible solution into either it works or not, hence result in convergence of possible solutions, i.e. verify or falsify assumptions
  • Pyramid Principle
    • Sub-hypotheses: Breakdown the main hypothesis into its component parts
      • e.g. create new sub-hypotheses to address the people, equipment and location/venue, i.e. pre-conditions
      • to test the assumptions underlying assumptions
      • identify the main categories of assumptions that are necessary for the Core Hypothesis
        • MECE: Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive
• Plan Your Work
  • Check/Test hypotheses
• Prioritise analyses
  • Back of envelope/ball park numbers
  • prioritise: effort required x impact, 80/20 rule
    • modelling
    • Quick wins, Big wins(big impact), wild shot(low impact, high effort),possible traps
  • estimate whether something in consideration is significant
  • overcome fear of lack of numbers

• Deductive thinking
  • Mental models
• Inductive thinking/approach
  • illustrated by 95% drop of phone used, air travel
  • a more accurate answer
• “We're always in a box”
  • Shift from mental model to another
• Creative problem solving in Business
  • Different perspective, e.g. Apples iPhone, iPad, etc, are not new
• Tools to shift mental models
  • De-constrain
    • Specify problem
    • List inherent beliefs
    • Challenge the beliefs
    • Reframe problem
    • Illustration: Ryan Air
  • Re-formulate the question
    • Be more specific/clearer, based on experience
    • Well-crafted questions, needs to rigorous to frame the correct practical question
      • Engaging and aligning
    • Zoom in on situations that we can visualise
      • identify target audience
      • time-bound the issue/problem
      • mention venue/location
  • Shift perspective
    • Generate ideas technique: shift personas/perspectives
    • use personas representing each customer group
  • competitor's perspective
  • future perspective - think of where you want to be at a certain point in the future, then look back and think of what could have gotten you there
  • think through the lens of a different company (not related)L philosophy, world view, e.g. Apple
• Making decisions
  • Reframe:
  • Diverge: quantity of ideas, crazy ideas, brainstorm
  • Converge: running out of time, judge, analyse, selection criteria
    • discuss/align/debate
    • eliminate impractical options
    • combine options
    • edit options
    • list pros and cons
    • list “good” criteria to judge
    • take to higher authority
    • vote: green (low hanging fruits), amber (lay the groundwork for future), red
    • identify cost(benefit) vs impact
      • go for low-hanging fruits first
  • Act:
• asd

Four stages:

• Frame/Define Problem
  • Situation
  • Complication
  • Question
• Generate Hypotheses
  • Pyramid Principle
  • MECE: Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive
• Making decisions
  • Reframe
  • Diverge
  • Converge
  • Act