By Arnaud, on August 25th, 2010% 
Whether looking for the root causes of your problem or identifying solutions, you must be collectively exhaustive (CE). That means looking for all the possible solutions. That’s fine in theory but in practice, that induces paralysis by analysis. So you need to learn to balance your quest for collective exhaustiveness with practical considerations.
Know the difference
Satisficing is a portmanteau between satisfying and sufficing. It means that you’re looking for the first adequate solution to your problem. Once you’ve identified it, you stop.
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By Arnaud, on August 19th, 2010% 
You can conduct the best research in the world, eventually you’ll have to communicate it to others. Do a lousy job there and that will stain your entire project. Is it unfair? Sure, but that’s not the point. The point is that you need to make sure that you communicate your message effectively. And that means that you need to start with your main idea.
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By Arnaud, on August 14th, 2010% This entry is the final part of a multi-post case study.
You’ve prepared your message. Now is time to deliver it. This post looks at how you can do that effectively.
Build your message along the way
Ever experienced the night-before syndrome? It’s pretty common amongst consultants when they’re about to show their final deliverables… and amongst students when they face their finals, so you probably have. The good news is that you don’t have to experience the night-before syndrome anymore.
This is a preview of Case study: cables negotiation — part 8/8 — Present your conclusions . Read the full post (855 words, estimated 3:25 mins reading time)Related Posts:
By Arnaud, on August 13th, 2010% This entry is part of a multi-post case study.
So you’ve identified potential solutions to reduce the duration of your cable negotiations. You’ve also identified which analysis you needed to do to verify that these were indeed valid solutions. Suppose that your analysis left you with one clear solution, as depicted in the first figure below. Now you need to implement it.
This is a preview of Case study: cables negotiation — part 7/8 — Prepare your message . Read the full post (1382 words, 5 images, estimated 5:32 mins reading time)Related Posts:
By Arnaud, on August 9th, 2010% This entry is part of a multi-post case study.
We’ve developed a ‘how’ tree about how we can close negotiations with our cable providers on time. The result was a set of hypotheses about how to proceed, and we now have several alternatives. Now we need to decide which one(s) to pursue.
If you’re lucky, you have enough resources (time, money, infrastructure, etc.) to implement all. Congratulations!
This is a preview of Case study: cables negotiation — part 6/8 — Identify solutions (2/2) . Read the full post (1230 words, 4 images, estimated 4:55 mins reading time)Related Posts:
By Arnaud, on August 2nd, 2010% This entry is part of a multi-post case study.
You’ve identified your problem.
You’ve uncovered its root causes by building a why tree and by testing hypotheses.
So you’ve covered the first two steps of the problem-solving process. Next, you need to identify solutions.
This requires you to reformulate your problem: you need to find a new key question and then build a logic tree; but this time it will be a “how” tree.
This is a preview of Case study: cables negotiation — part 5/8 — Identify solutions (1/2) . Read the full post (1026 words, 3 images, estimated 4:06 mins reading time)Related Posts:
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