Consulting Trail

Most decision making should be based on logical approach, using data and methodologies, that is why consultants   often  use  evaluation forms as a tool to simplify decision making.  The evaluation forms are built on two main things: evaluation criteria and the weighting of each of those criteria. This tool can be used for  Benchmarking comparison, v endor selection, or  any other analytic decision making (business or personal such as buying a car/house, choosing a candidate -etc). I will describe below the steps to create an evaluation form and and I will share with you a basic example of how to compare a set of options. The steps to create an evaluation form are described as follow: 1. Creating the model     1.1. Select the key criteria which are important for the evaluation     1.2. Give a weighting to each criteria     1.3. Select which of those criteria have a positive or negative impact on the scoring 2. D...

You need as a consultant to gather information  directly  from  your client  in almost every project . I recently  interviewed  22 people within a week and needless to say it was consuming, but it's basically the best way to gather the information needed for the diagnosis. First of all, it's crucial  to be prepared  before conducting an interview, and once it's done, to quickly prepare a report. In between, you must ask the best possible questions in order to gather as much information as possible. Here few tips you can remember while conducting the interview: 1. Make sure your interviewee is aware about the scope of the project before the meeting by sending them a project description and the topics of the conversation. They will come better prepared. 2. Avoid asking questions you can answer yourself by just searching online or by reading their previous reports. 3. Start by laying out the different subjects you are interested to talk abo...

Most consulting reports are made with PowerPoint. It is not that easy to prepare nice looking slides and  at the same time to  have good quality content.  I prepared 10 questions to ask yourself every time you are writing a report to guide you through the process of preparing good quality content reports. Before 1. "Is the narrative of the report coherent?"  Before opening PowerPoint, make sure you write down the storyline and review it with your manager. T he storyline should be coherent and tells an actual story. 2. "Is the purpose of this slide clear?" Write the titles/leads/taglines of each slide. Do not leave any slide without a clear purpose in the presentation; you are not   paid by the number of words. It's also important for each slide to address one purpose, not multiple ones at the same time. While 3. "Will the reader be able to understand it?"   Put yourself in the reader's shoes. If  you think it is a bit confusing, wri...