Dazza Greenwood

The best mentors are people who you have already worked closely with on a team or on the client side or in another key position on a project. In these situations, the people already know each other in a relevant context, and have a basis for a genuine and on-point communication. The relationships forged from the fire of working together can help form a bond that can serve as a sound foundation for future mentorships.

For scrappy real-time collaboration, simple and immediately usable shared document tools can help manage consulting business workflows. In particular, streamlined pure markdown shared files, available from providers such as hack.md and stashpad are go-to solutions for quick-start ways to collaboratively work on documents with team members, certain clients, and other key players. These are like Google Docs and 360, but with non of the heavy overhead. However, they do persist at a stable URL, and offer more complex access controls and integrations if needed.

If a management consulting project is facing a tight deadline, work backwards from the explicitly agreed deliverables or outcomes and determine if there is a delivery risk. If so, 1) address and eliminate the cause of the delay if possible, or if that is not possible, then 2) either signal to the client there may be a delay for whatever legitimate reasons exist and/or 2) start throwing non-critical path items and activities off the boat in order to navigate to a successful delivery according to the client's expectations within the realm of the possible.

The best way to ensure a client's strategic plan is adaptable to change is to periodically review and adapt the plan. Building in checkpoints at key milestones to review the plan based on new information (whether that be changes in the competitive environment, in the technology, in the law, in your own company, or otherwise) can help set an expectation that the plan may evolve, and that such updating is not necessarily a faire of the plan or the people.

In project management, flexibility in scope is crucial to accommodate unforeseen changes which may become necessary due to various factors, including: * Uncertain Initial Scope: At the outset of a project, it may be difficult to fully define all aspects of the scope. * Dynamically Changing Circumstances: External factors, such as market conditions, technological advancements, or regulatory changes, can impact the project scope. Likewise, changes in needs or constraints at the company or with project partners can significantly impact the project scope. Flexibility allows project managers to adapt to these changing circumstances and make necessary adjustments to the scope to ensure project success.

To deepen the analysis of customer feedback, consider incorporating a Large Language Model (LLM)-powered workflow with a skilled prompt engineer. This approach can uncover actionable solutions and new capabilities demanded or favored by customers, identified through their feedback. A prompt engineer adeptly composes queries to extract and surface insights from LLMs, expanding your team's pool of ideas and options. This method not only segments existing data but also creatively explores potential opportunities hidden within customer feedback.