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Management consultant
productivity hacks
How to be lazy and still get things done

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Introduction

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Management consultants are brutally efficient

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In this presentation I will show you how
to do the right things fast and efficiently
so you can enjoy fully your work and life

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What will we talk about?
Selection Faster pace Team work
▪ Issue tree
▪ Priorities
▪ Low hanging fruits
▪ Benchmarks
▪ 80/20 rule
▪ SMART goals
▪ To-do list
▪ Tools
▪ Bottlenecks
▪ Multitasking
▪ Emails
▪ Folder structure
▪ Simplify
▪ Standards and templates
▪ Iteration
▪ Smart batching and 1 piece
flow
▪ Automation and Delegation
▪ Zero Defect Rule
▪ Knowing for your customer
and being him
▪ Tools
▪ Time budget
▪ Collect knowledge
▪ Bottlenecks
▪ Up-or-out
▪ Manage expectations
▪ Sprints
▪ Universal soldiers
▪ Oh no methods
▪ Meetings
▪ Australian race
▪ Templates, Modules,
Standards

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Which frameworks will we use?
Getting things done
80/20
Theory of constraints
Lean manufacturing
Critical Chain
Lean startup

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What you will see in this presentation is are part of our on-line
course on how to be productive. You can get it with all the
additional resources with great discount
Click to check my course
Management Consulting
Productivity Hacks
$45
$15

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How to select things that it
makes sense to concentrate on?

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What to do and what
NOT to do?

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It makes more sense to stand
still than to chase the wrong
goals

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If you are traveling on a train, before trying to
speed it up check whether you are heading in
the right direction.

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See the forest first
and then the trees

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Can't see the forest for the trees

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Rules that will help you see the forest and not get distracted
by the many trees around you
Go from general to
specific
Look for main drivers
(up to 5)
Start with an empty
page
Be critical and selective
Get views from
different angels
Don’t read too much
Set the stopping point
for details
Don’t go too fast into
details
Set time limits
Go to the forest

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Example of how to see the forest first – consulting project.
Many go too fast to details and do not see the general picture
Going from specific to general
Ask for all data
(50 points)
Go through data Ask for more data
Analyze all data
Find ways to cut
costs

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It makes much more sense to start from the general picture and
only after this go to details. It the case of consulting project that
would mean start with i.e. asking for cost structure and only going
in details for most important items
Going from general to specific
Ask cost structure
Create
hypotheses for
the main cost
position
Ask only for data
to check
hypotheses
Analyze the
selected data
Find the most
important ways
to cut costs

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As a result you get the work done 5-10 times faster and
almost all the possible effect
Going from specific to general Going from general to specific
Ask for all data
(50 points)
Go through
data
Ask for more
data
Analyze all
data
Find ways to
cut costs
Ask cost
structure
Create
hypotheses for
the main cost
position
Ask only for
data to check
hypotheses
Analyze the
selected data
Find the most
important
ways to cut
costs
5-10 x faster
You get 75-95% of the impact

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Use simple math

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Whenever somebody mentions
math you see the dreaded formulas

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There are some rules that are worth following
Find drivers
Round to integers
Calculate in your mind
Do sampling afterwards
Write down the rough
values
▪ Main things that certain thing depends on
▪ Instead of multiplying 2,3 by 3,61 multiple 2 by 4
Make educated guess

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Imagine that you want to use simple math to estimate how
long you will wait in the queue. You should use the following
simple formula
Number of people in
the queue
x
Number of cash
tilts
Time per 1 customer

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If you try to calculate the using the exact digits you may get
lost…..
Number of
people in the
queue
Time per 1
customer
Number of
cash tilts
32 2.33
Time you will
wait
In min
23.4
Number of people in
the queue
x
Number of cash
tilts
Time per 1 customer

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Yet, if you round it up to integers you get fast a good-enough
answer
Number of
people in the
queue
Time per 1
customer
Number of
cash tilts
32 2.33
30 23 20.0
Time you will
wait
In min
23.4
Number of people in
the queue
x
Number of cash
tilts
Time per 1 customer

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Issue tree

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Issue tree is a concept that help you guess in a structured
manner the problems, reasons causing those problems and
on the basis of this decide what should be analyzed
Area of analysis
Area 1
Problem 1
Problem 2
Possible Reason 1
Possible Reason 2
Possible Reason 3
Possible Reason 4
Possible reasonsSuspected problems
Analysis to be
performed
Analysis 1
Analysis 2
Analysis 3
Analysis 4

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Have a look at an issue tree example for a chicken meat
producer. We guess that he has 3 problems in Logistics
Area of analysis
Transport
High costs of transport per ton of
goods
Big level of waste and breakage in
transport
Possible reasonsSuspected problems
Analysis to be
performed
Low usage of resources

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Then for those problems we try to guess the reasons
causing them
Area of analysis
Transport
High costs of transport per ton of
goods
Big level of waste and breakage in
transport
Possible reasonsSuspected problems
Analysis to be
performed
Badly designed routes
Too big fuel usage
No shipments on the way back
Low usage of resources
Badly designed method of packaging
which makes the product prone to
damage
Speed not adjusted to the product
Badly organized work and schedule of
deliveries
Limitation on delivery time of finished
goods

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Finally we come up with analyzes we have to carry to prove
or disprove these hypotheses (that certain reason is causing
certain problem
Area of analysis
Transport
High costs of transport per ton of
goods
Big level of waste and breakage in
transport
Possible reasonsSuspected problems
Analysis to be
performed
Analysis of correlation between type
of packaging and percentage of
damaged
Analysis of time spent on the way and
kilometers covered in that time
Analysis of designed routes, their
length and the influence of possible
changes
Analysis of fuel usage and kilometers
covered by vehicles
Analysis of load carried on the way
back
Badly designed routes
Too big fuel usage
No shipments on the way back
Low usage of resources
Badly designed method of packaging
which makes the product prone to
damage
Speed not adjusted to the product
Badly organized work and schedule of
deliveries
Limitation on delivery time of finished
goods
Analysis of level of overtime, daily
organization of drivers work
Analysis of Clients’ preferences on
delivery time

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Low hanging fruit

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We are taught to look for challenges. In
real life it makes more sense to start with
the simple things that give you big impact

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Get the low hanging fruits first. By low hanging
fruits we mean things with big impact and easy
to accomplish. You should first concentrate on
low hanging fruits and only after that go for
other priorities

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Resources needed
Impact
SmallBig
High
Low
▪ Things with big impact that
require little work
1
How to find low hanging fruits?
▪ Easy but with low impact
3
▪ Things with big impact yet
expensive, time consuming
2
No
Low hanging fruits

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▪ Office hours
1
Example of low hanging fruits for StartupAkademia
2
4 3
▪ Blog posts
▪ Slideshare presentation
Impact (traffic generated
to the web)
High
Low
Resources needed
(money + time)
SmallBig
▪ Udemy Course
▪ Sniply
▪ Youtube
▪ Events
▪ Twitter
▪ Additional resources
Low hanging fruits

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Priorities

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There are 4 types of priorities you can use
▪ FCFS – First Come First
Served (FIFO)
▪ LCFS – Last Come First (LIFO)
Served
▪ Due Date
▪ SOT – Shortest Operating Time

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Depending on the rules you use you will do differen things
first
FCFS
▪ Write 1 blog post
▪ Analyze sales
results
▪ Send email
▪ Read 4 articles
▪ Pay for cable TV
Task
When
it came Deadline
Time
needed for
completion
In minutes
▪ 01.04
▪ 01.04
▪ 02.04
▪ 02.04
▪ 03.04
▪ 10.04
▪ 04.04
▪ 09.04
▪ 11.04
▪ 04.04
▪ 120
▪ 30
▪ 2
▪ 25
▪ 4
1
2
3
4
5
LCFS
5
4
3
2
1
Deadline
4
1
3
5
2
SOT
5
4
1
3
2

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I use apply a mixture of SOT and Deadlines as it gives biggest
impact fast especially in a team set-up
▪ Write 1 blog post
▪ Analyze sales
results
▪ Send email
▪ Read 4 articles
▪ Pay for cable TV
Task
When
it came Deadline
Time
needed for
completion
In minutes
▪ 01.04
▪ 01.04
▪ 02.04
▪ 02.04
▪ 03.04
▪ 10.04
▪ 04.04
▪ 09.04
▪ 11.04
▪ 04.04
▪ 120
▪ 30
▪ 2
▪ 25
▪ 4
Deadline
4
1
3
5
2
SOT
5
4
1
3
2

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Benchmarks

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Without some point of reference you will not know
whether you are tall or short

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There are 2 types of benchmarks
Internal External
▪ Based on previous execution
▪ Extremely comparable
▪ Very reliable
▪ Detailed – can be put for each and every activity
▪ Based on some external source (i.e. reports)
▪ Not that easily comparable
▪ They to be treated with caution
▪ Only for chosen amount of activities
▪ Can give you food for drastic improvements - by
analyzing them you can find totally different
method of working

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By comparing your results and benchmarks you can decide
what to improve, work on
Internal
▪ Salary
▪ Speed of typing
▪ Speed of
analyzing Excel
Area Unit
Current
result
▪ K USD
▪ words/ minute
▪ minute
▪ 5
▪ 40
▪ 15
4
39
10
External
7
80
12
▪ Your salary went up in
comparison with your previous
one but you are still below the
market
▪ Your typing speed has improved
slightly yet you are far below the
speed achieved by others
▪ You not only improved your speed
of analyzing but also are better
than others
▪ Makes sense to teach others how
to do it
Conclusions

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Applying 80/20 rule
in practice

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80/20 – Pareto Principal

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What does 80/20 mean in practice
▪ Concentrate only on the big items
▪ Concentrate on the big customers
▪ Analyze the most typical cases
▪ Concentrate on the most frequently occurring
problems
▪ Analyze problems with big impact
▪ Your analyses should have only 20% of the
variable that generate 80% of the impact
▪ Start with subjects where you see the biggest
difference between actual results and
benchmarks

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Here are 3 examples of using 80/20 rules
▪ Learning Visual
Basic for Excel
▪ Checking
competitors
▪ Salsa course
Area
▪ Learn only the 5 most used items that will take only 20% of full course and will
be used by in you in 80% cases
▪ You check only 20% of competitors that sales add-up to 80% of the market
▪ Go through 20% of the course to learn the moves and the figures used by 80% of
people
Description

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More details and additional resources you will see in our on-
line course on how to be productive
Click to check my course
Management Consulting
Productivity Hacks
$45
$15

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How you can work
faster

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Create to-do lists

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To do list will help you to arrange you work into smaller
actionable pieces

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There are few rules that will help you write down the to-do
list and make the best out of them
Put everything on a list
Use multiple lists
Specific actionable things
Divided jobs into small
tasks
Set pace
Use calendar as one of the
lists
Go through lists regularly
Use tools to track tasks
execution
Put project as to-do list

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You can use different type of list of to-dos
Next
Actions
Lists by status – by Getting Things Done
Projects Waiting for
Someday
Maybe
Home
Lists by place– by Getting Things Done
Work On-line Calendar Phone
To be done
Lists by status
Currently
Doing
Done
Topic
Research
Lists by production stages – example of udemy course
Presentation Script Recording
Post-
production
Upload

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I use 4 types of lists
To be done
Managing me
Expecting from
others
Recurring items
Managing
personal team
Master list
Monika
Lidia
Michael
Lisa
Project done for
customers
Project A
Project B
Project C
Project D
Supervising
startups
Startup A
Startup B
Startup C
Startup D

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Set SMART goals

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S
M
A
R
T
Specific – target a specific area for improvement
Measurable – it has to be quantifiable; you have to have a way of measuring it
Assignable – it says who will do it
Realistic – it can be delivered
Time-related – it says when it has do be delivered / by which dates
The SMAR formula translates to 5 rules you should use when
defining the goals

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Goals for ordinary tasks Goals for skills
▪ Avoid vague tasks
▪ Always for projects set deliverable, date and
responsible person
▪ Merge the task with the goal on the to-do list and
set the right pace to a achieve the goal within the
defined time
▪ Set goals for improving your skills
▪ Set goals for learning new things
▪ Set goals for making the repetitive things faster and
better
SMART goals should be set for the task but also for skills

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Imagine that you want to write a book. Let’s translate it into
task with SMART goals
Imagine that you
want to write a book
Define the size
of the book and
deadline
Divided into
small tasks
Make the tasks
SMART
Set the pace and
execute

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You first have to define the size of the book and the deadline
by which it has to be written
Imagine that you
want to write a book
Define the size
of the book and
deadline
Divided into
small tasks
Make the tasks
SMART
Set the pace and
execute
▪ 200 pages
▪ 1 page = 800
characters
▪ Time= 1 year

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Once you have the size and deadline divide it into small tasks.
In our case it will be writing pages
Imagine that you
want to write a book
Define the size
of the book and
deadline
Divided into
small tasks
Make the tasks
SMART
Set the pace and
execute
▪ 200 pages
▪ 1 page = 800
characters
▪ Time= 1 year
▪ Write pages

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Obviously “writing pages”is not SMART so you have to be
more specific. In our case we set the goal as 1 page per day
Imagine that you
want to write a book
Define the size
of the book and
deadline
Divided into
small tasks
Make the tasks
SMART
Set the pace and
execute
▪ 200 pages
▪ 1 page = 800
characters
▪ Time= 1 year
▪ Write pages ▪ Write 1 page
every day

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Finally, you have to have a way of controlling the pace and
reacting. In our case once a week you make a summary. If
you are below the target you have to speed up or allocate
more resources
Imagine that you
want to write a book
Define the size
of the book and
deadline
Divided into
small tasks
Make the tasks
SMART
Set the pace and
execute
▪ 200 pages
▪ 1 page = 800
characters
▪ Time= 1 year
▪ Write pages ▪ Write 1 page
every day
▪ Measure every
week completion
rate against the
target (1
page/day=7
pages/week)
▪ If necessary act
to keep the pace

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By comparing your results and benchmarks you can decide
what to improve, work on
Internal
▪ Learn
Spanish
▪ Speed of
typing
Area Unit
Current
result
▪ Level
▪ words/
minute
▪ 0
▪ 40
n/a
39
External
Intermediate
80
▪ Sing-in the course
▪ Listen to Spanish TV 30 minutes
every day
▪ Enroll into a on-line course
▪ Devote 15 minutes every day to
training
Target
▪ Intermediate
in 2 years
▪ Achieve 60
words/minute
In 3 months
Actions

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Map your skills, experience, skills and set goals where you
want to be
▪ Sales projects
Experience
▪ 1
# of projects
Current Target
▪ 4
Industry
Current Target
▪ Marketing projects ▪ 2 ▪ 6
▪ Supply chain projects ▪ 2 ▪ 2
▪ Production projects ▪ 3 ▪ 3
▪ HR projects ▪ 0 ▪ 1
▪ Excel
Skills Lowest Level Highest level
▪ Negotiation
▪ English
▪ Optimizing production
▪ Setting up on-line
marketing campaigns
Current
Target

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Use the right tools
and master them

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People tend to use old tools there are used to
as they have no incentive to work better and
faster. You can drastically improve the
efficiency by identifying the right tools

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Let’s have a look at tools used in consulting

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First you list most often activites
Define what you do
most often
Find tools
Master the tools you
are using
Constantly improve
and test new ones
▪ Analyze
▪ Present
▪ Collect knowledge
▪ Manage projects
and teams
▪ Sell

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Then you list the tools currently used
Define what you do
most often
Find tools
Master the tools you
are using
Constantly improve
and test new ones
▪ Analyze ▪ Excel
▪ Present ▪ Power Point
▪ Collect knowledge ▪ Database on Google
Sheet with links
▪ Manage projects
and teams
▪ Database on Google
Sheet
▪ Sell ▪ Direct sales and
content marketing
on events

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As a 3rd step you try to device ways to improve your usage of
those tools
Define what you do
most often
Find tools
Master the tools you
are using
Constantly improve
and test new ones
▪ Analyze ▪ Excel ▪ Learn advanced formulas ,
formats and VBA,
shortcuts
▪ Present ▪ Power Point ▪ Learn animation, using of
templates, shortcuts
▪ Collect knowledge ▪ Database on Google
Sheet with links
▪ Use advanced function
and templates, use zapier
for partial automation
▪ Manage projects
and teams
▪ Database on Google
Sheet
▪ Learn advanced features
of Google Sheet that will
enable you managing the
project or team
▪ Sell ▪ Direct sales and
content marketing
on events
▪ Increases your network
(LinkedIn) and start
propagating content
marketing on different
platforms (Guest blogging,
reports distributed to
customers, Slideshare)

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Finally you can look for much better options.
Define what you do
most often
Find tools
Master the tools you
are using
Constantly improve
and test new ones
▪ Analyze ▪ Excel ▪ Learn advanced formulas ,
formats and VBA,
shortcuts
▪ Test Access, SPSS, R
for specific
purposes
▪ Present ▪ Power Point ▪ Learn animation, using of
templates, shortcuts
▪ Test Prezio,
Powtoon, Explain
everything for this
purpose
▪ Collect knowledge ▪ Database on Google
Sheet with links
▪ Use advanced function
and templates, use zapier
for partial automation
▪ Test Get Pocket,
Evernote
▪ Manage projects
and teams
▪ Database on Google
Sheet
▪ Learn advanced features
of Google Sheet that will
enable you managing the
project or team
▪ Test Asana, Leankit,
Smartsheet, Trelllo,
Nobe
▪ Sell ▪ Direct sales and
content marketing
on events
▪ Increases your network
(LinkedIn) and start
propagating content
marketing on different
platforms (Guest blogging,
reports distributed to
customers, Slideshare)
▪ Use Linkedin
Premium, Buffer,
start microblogging
on Twitter, Google+
▪ Get cloes.io for cold
calling and delegate
it partially to other
team members

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You have to find tools for the most often done activities
Define what you do
most often
Find tools
Master the tools you
are using
Constantly improve
and test new ones
▪ Analyze ▪ Excel ▪ Learn advanced formulas ,
formats and VBA,
shortcuts
▪ Test Access, SPSS, R
for specific
purposes
▪ Present ▪ Power Point ▪ Learn animation, using of
templates, shortcuts
▪ Test Prezio,
Powtoon, Explain
everything for this
purpose
▪ Collect knowledge ▪ Database on Google
Sheet with links
▪ Use advanced function
and templates, use zapier
for partial automation
▪ Test Get Pocket,
Evernote
▪ Manage projects
and teams
▪ Database on Google
Sheet
▪ Learn advanced features
of Google Sheet that will
enable you managing the
project or team
▪ Test Asana, Leankit,
Smartsheet, Trelllo,
Nobe
▪ Sell ▪ Direct sales and
content marketing
on events
▪ Increases your network
(LinkedIn) and start
propagating content
marketing on different
platforms (Guest blogging,
reports distributed to
customers, Slideshare)
▪ Use Linkedin
Premium, Buffer,
start microblogging
on Twitter, Google+
▪ Get cloes.io for cold
calling and delegate
it partially to other
team members

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Thanks to this exercise you can speed up main
activities 2-10x. We start with mastering
current tools as it is easy to ask people to
improve at things they know then to make
them learn new tools

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List of the most important tools for consultant
Analyze Present Sales & Marketing
Knowledge
Management
Market research Team management

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Now let’s have a look at a different, yet real example of engineers
preparing drawing of aluminum constructions for their customers

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Below example of engineers in a support department that
have to draw designs for clients in Autocad. They draw
aluminum profiles but unfortunately line by line
Define what you do
most often
Find tools
Master the tools you
are using
Constantly improve
and test new ones
▪ Prepare projects
for clients
▪ AutoCad

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You can significantly improve by introducing libraries of ready
made elements and storing previous projects in standardized
form
Define what you do
most often
Find tools
Master the tools you
are using
Constantly improve
and test new ones
▪ Prepare projects
for clients
▪ AutoCad ▪ Create libraries
▪ Store previous projects

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On top of that you can buy add-on for Autocad that reduces
drastically the time needed for drawing
Define what you do
most often
Find tools
Master the tools you
are using
Constantly improve
and test new ones
▪ Prepare projects
for clients
▪ AutoCad ▪ Create libraries
▪ Store previous projects
▪ Buy add-on Autocad
that changes the
drawing methods

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As you can see by going the full way you are able to improve
8x and do in 2 hours what used to take you 16 hours. For a
department of 4 people basically it meant that now they
could do the job of 32 qualified engineers
Define what you do
most often
Find tools
Master the tools you
are using
Constantly improve
and test new ones
▪ Prepare projects
for clients
▪ AutoCad ▪ Create libraries
▪ Store previous projects
▪ Buy add-on Autocad
that changes the
drawing methods
▪ Time in hours
needed for 1
project
▪ 16 hours ▪ 10 hours ▪ 2 hours

78.
78
More details and additional resources go to my on-line course
on how to be productive
Click to check my course
Management Consulting
Productivity Hacks
$45
$15

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Removing bottlenecks

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Bottlenecks are dangerous as their hurt the efficiency of the
whole system. To improve the wholes system you have to
improve first bottlenecks

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Bottleneck is always at the place where you have the lowest
capacity. Have a look at 3 examples below
Example 1
7 5 7
Example 2
5 10 20
Example 3
5 5 3
x Stage capacity
x Bottleneck

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The are 4 rules that you should follow when it comes to
bottlenecks
▪ Identify what is the bottleneck
▪ Increase its throughput by lowering the time needed for
everything that goes through the bottleneck
▪ Add new resources to bottleneck
▪ Adjust everything to the bottleneck – so it works at the
same pace

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Imagine that you are working in a company working in a
content marketing. Your bottleneck is writing posts
Research topics for a
post
Write a post Create illustration
Edit and modify
post, add illustration
and schedule
20 5 7 10
# of post that can
be done in a week
by 1 person
xx

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84
If you Speed up the writing process (faster typing, better tools,
shortcuts for the most popular words) you boost capacity to 7 and
Creation of illustration becomes your bottleneck
Research topics for a
post
Write a post Create illustration
Edit and modify
post, add illustration
and schedule
20 5 7 10
# of post that can
be done in a week
by 1 person
▪ Speed up the writing process (faster typing,
better tools, shortcuts for the most popular
words)
xx
20 8 7 10

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Finally if you make the researcher do also par time writing and
making illustration you boos capacity even further to 9 post per
week. Writing post again becomes bottleneck. But with the same
people you produce almost 2x
Research topics for a
post
Write a post Create illustration
Edit and modify
post, add illustration
and schedule
20 5 7 10
# of post that can
be done in a week
by 1 person
▪ Speed up the writing process (faster typing,
better tools, shortcuts for the most popular
words)
xx
20 8 7 10
10 9 10 10
▪ Make the researcher do also par time
writing and making illustration

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Avoid multitasking

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What is the role of business analyst?
Pure evilMultitasking
▪When you try to multitask you get deconcentrated
▪You waste time on switching between tasks
▪It lowers actually your IQ
▪You can’t achieve the flow
=

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If you want to avoid multitasking follow the following rules
Check email only on set
intervals
Switch off the phone / fb/
others
Block time for certain tasks
Follow to-do list using the
priorities
1 task at a time
Make regular breaks
Make the tasks small
enough
Test how music works with
you

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89
Avoid emails

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90
Emails are causing a chaos due to its iterative nature

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If you want to avoid emails follow the following rules
Write in clear and simple
manner
Don’t respond with “thank
you”
Send always to the
minimal # of people
Send always to the person
that can react
Use Google Sheet /
Asana for projects
Use Slack for small things
Forbid emails
Walk
Kill the reasons for emails
Kill the iteration

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Create universal
structure of folders

93.
93
In most cases in consulting you will be doing a lot of different
project and you may loose a track of what you have done
Supply chain
General audit
Cost cutting
Sales Force Management
Marketing improvement
Cost cutting
Supply chain
Supply chain
Sales Force Management
Sales Force Management
Marketing improvement
General audit
Supply chain
▪ After a few project you will be
lost – you will not remember
what was done on what project
▪ Consulting and many services
are bout managing knowledge
▪ If you organize the knowledge
properly you can reuse it on
other projects
▪ Therefore create universal
structure of folders

94.
94
Below an example of structure used for consulting project
Customer
folder
Project A
folder
Admin
Legal
PBC
Area A
Area B
Deliverables

95.
95
Talk and write simple, in a
clear and coherent way

96.
96
Writing in a simple way is about following certain simple
rules
Make it short and sweet
Structure
Tell in a pure and clear
way what you want
Use bullet points
Kill adjectives and
adverbs
Use the right format
Use the pyramid
principle
Send it to the right
person
Start from general and
then go to specific
Conclusion first

97.
97
Messaging – example how NOT to write it
Dear Kate
You probably remember that last week, somewhere around
afternoon, when I was strolling with my boyfriend in this humid day,
we came across you and then when I was talking on the phone you
my back turned to you, you kissed my boyfriend on the lips.
Moreover, I day before that incident, when you were at my mom’s
place at dinner you said that it was the worst meal you had ever had.
On top of that, when my cat tried to approach you gently you kicked
him and told him that next time you would bring your big, scary dog.
Taking everything mentioned above, I must say admit that I cannot
me your friend any longer. In fact it seems that I do not like you
anymore.
Best regards
Mary

98.
98
Messaging – example how to write it
Dear Kate
I do not like you and I don not wish to see you anymore because:
1. You were hitting on my boyfriend
2. You insulted my mother
3. You hurt my cat
Mary

99.
99
Standardize everything

100.
100
Why it makes sense to standardize?
Easy to go through what
you have done so far
You can reuse your
products
Less versions to manage
Brain works faster with
standards
You can find faster what
you need

101.
101
How to decide whether to standardize
Used by manyOften used
Last for longer time
Standardize

102.
102
Below you will find examples of things standardized in
consulting and a typical company
Folder structure
Consulting
Naming of files
Proposals to customers
Typical company
Agreements
Deliverables
Analyses
Main processes
Internal documents
External documents
Main process
Dress code
Language of
communication

103.
103
There are some rules for standardizing that you should follow
Use few standards
Internal standards
higher than external
Round up to closes
standard
Communicate standards
Teach standards

104.
104
Standardization – examples of
rules for Excel

105.
105
What rules should be used when building analysis in Excel
Usage of colors
Consistency between
sheets
Pyramid principle
1-source rule
Repetition of variables
Shortcuts
No mouse
Description
Data source
Master sheet

106.
106
The most useful functions
Basic functions
Financial /
Mathematical
Others
▪ SUMIF / SUMIFS
▪ COUNTIF / COUNTIFS
▪ HLOOKUP
▪ VLOOKUP
▪ MATCH
▪ SUMPRODUCT
▪ IF
▪ AND / OR
▪ IFERROR
▪ AVERAGEIF
▪ LEFT / RIGHT / MID
▪ FIND
▪ CONCATENATE
▪ YEAR / MONTH / DAY
▪ ROUND / ROUNDUP /
ROUNDDOWN
▪ TODAY
▪ VALUE
▪ WEEKDAY
▪ RAND / RANDBETWEEN
▪ MOD
▪ NPV
▪ IRR
▪ ABS
▪ MAX / MIN
▪ CORREL
▪ Pivot
▪ Slicer
▪ Relative addresses
▪ Formats
▪ Hyperlink
▪ Remove Duplicates
▪ Filters
▪ Sorting
▪ Data Validation
▪ Trace Dependents /
Precedent
▪ Analysis Tool Pack

107.
107
Create templates

108.
108
Templates can save you a lot of time. They are area almost
ready made pieces of work that need some changes to be
used. It is great for repetitive work

109.
109
How to decide whether to make templates
Often UsedCan be reused
Time-consuming
Template

110.
110
Define what you should create templates for. In consulting
we use a lot of templates to make the repetitive work less
time consuming
Sales
presentation
Consulting
Emails
Data request
Project Time
sheets
Proposal
Agreement
Folder structure
Deliverable
presentation
Dimensions
▪ For every product, branch
▪ All standard emails: about meetings, data request, workshop, sales emails,
thank you email
▪ For every product (project type) and branch – Word
▪ For every product (project type) – Word
▪ For every product (project type) – Word
▪ For every product (project type) and branch in Excel
▪ Library of standard slides with typical analyses to choose from
▪ For every product (project type) and branch – Excel

111.
111
Create modules

112.
112
Modules is something that helps you go beyond templates
and used them in a situation that seem not easy to be
standardized

113.
113
Creating modules enables you to turn even things that
Sales
presentation
About the company (history, experience, offices)
Problem description
Proposed solution
Pricing
Team
Contact Details
Rather standard
Unique

114.
114
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115.
115
Shelf management

116.
116
Consulting is a place where the work is very volatile – one day you work
15 hours and next day you have nothing to do. What you want to do is
use the time of low activity to somehow prepare yourself and absorb
periods of high activity
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

117.
117
If you have such a volatile work, you should create a shelf of
tasks to be done once you are free. This to-dos should be
properly selected and structured and can have the form of a
Kanban

118.
118
Below you have an example of defining of to-dos for the
Kanban shelf
Product
development
Read articles
Read 5 articles
Read 5 articles
Read 5 articles
Read 5 articles
Read book
Read 50 pages
of 1 book
Read 50 pages
of 1 book
Read 50 pages
of 1 book
Product
proposal
Draft in pencil
Draft in PP
Fill in 5 slides
Fill in 5 slides

119.
119
Tasks from the Product development exercise you put into
the Kanban
Education Product
development
Sales

120.
120
There are number of things that you can put on the shelf
Learning new tools
Learning new skills
Improving skills
Project preparation
Knowledge base
preparation
Training preparation
Conduct training (esp.
lesson learnt)
Business development
Template preparation
Product Development

121.
121
Avoid iteration

122.
122
As you can see in the example of email exchange iteration is
one of the worst things that absorbs too much time and
prolongs all activities

123.
123
There are number of things causing iteration
Emails
Organizational structure
& number of people
You don’t know people
Reaction time
Lack of clear priorities
Formats of
communications
Lack of sense of urgency
Vacations and travels
No data / No
analysis

124.
124
Therefore makes sense to take actions and kill iteration
Avoid emails
Prepare ahead
Decision sessions
Create rules of behavior
Delegate things down
the command chain
Simplify organizational
structure

125.
125
Decision session how it can look like?
Shorter reaction time
Huge time savings
Less noise (emails) and
interactions
No effort to coordinate
Strengthen the team
…..
Get into one room
Do regularly
Take notes
Make decision
Come prepared
Be brutally
straightforward
Why it makes sense? Rules:

126.
126
Guess and prepare ahead

127.
127
If you prepare ahead you can save a lot of time on the project. On most
project data collection starts at the beginning of the project which is
actually 2-3 months too late
▪ Project Start
Task 1
▪ Data Gathering
▪ Analysis
▪ Presentation & Discussion
▪ End of the project
2 3 4 5 6 7
▪ Project Start
Task 1
▪ Data Gathering
▪ Analysis
▪ Presentation & Discussion
▪ End of the project
2 3 4 5 6 7

128.
128
Guess and prepare ahead
Tools
Aim
Time
Source of
information
• Excel
• Structure your problem
• Specify analyses to be
performed
• A week or two before the start
of the project.
• Should take up to 4-8 hours
• Your own mind
• Internet
• Specialized literature
• Word
• Put into words your
information needs
• After preparing issue tree. If
possible at least a week
before arriving at the clients
premises.
• Issue tree
• Former projects
• Word / Excel
• Create formats in Excel to
gather data as raw as
possible
• After preparing issue tree and
list of questions for the client.
If possible at least a week
before arriving at the clients
premises.
• Issue tree
End product • Issue tree • List of PBC (documents
to be Prepared By
Client)
• Formats and manual for
filling them in
Guess what the hell is the
problem?
Prepare a list of
questions for the
Client
Prepare Excel
sheets for data
input

129.
129
Get rid of unused things

130.
130
Why it makes sense to get rid of unused things?
Slows down
Takes the place that can
be used by good things
Mental pressure
Distracts you
You lose track
Costs money

131.
131
Since you operate on many platforms and levels you can
create multiple messes. On all of them you should introduce
order and simplicity
Desktop Browser Folder structure
To-do list Kanban shelf House
Desk
Computer

132.
132
Deadlines

133.
133
Why you need deadlines?
To know when it has to
be done
To set priorities properly
To manage properly
Parkinson Law
To communicate with
the rest
To create sense of
urgency

134.
134
We have 2 types of deadlines
Internal External≪

135.
135
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136.
136
Know your customers

137.
137
Who is your customer and why working for him will make you
work faster
Identify your
customer
Observe and understand
Implement in your
work
Description • Internal
• External
Outcome • You know who you
relate to internally and
externally
• Listen
• See how he behaves and uses your product
• Observe how he takes decisions
• Observe how he sets priorities
• Create in your head his decision making model
• Know his pains an problems
• Understand how your actions are entangled with
his every day life
• Insight into mechanisms
• Insight into preferences and customer constraints
• Use the knowledge to
apply 80/20 rules
• Set priorities on things
that involving specific
customers using the
knowledge on his
constraints and
preferences
• Doing the right things
that will get effect at
your customer

138.
138
Be your customer

139.
139
It makes a lot of sense to become your customer. This will help you even
further understand how to communicate properly and what will give you
biggest results
Suffer his pains and doubts
Learn competitors / Taste
their solutions
Get to know other customers
Understand the customer
language

140.
140
Master your field

141.
141
Who have to first define your field and the level of your
excellence
Sales Marketing Operations Programming
▪ Current level
▪ Target level

142.
142
There are number of pros and cons of becoming an expert in
a relatively wide area
Expert status
Faster thinking
You can go further
within certain field
No need to invent
Always ahead of the rest
Diminishing returns
Your specialization may
disappear
In-box thinking
Crowd effect

143.
143
Imagine that you want to become VP of sales. First you start
by defining your current profile
Define your current
profile
Define your target
profile
Set your SMART goal
on this subject
Allocate time for this
or to-dos in the Kanban
/ shelf for future tasks
VP of sales / CEO
▪ Sales
▪ Marketing
▪ Operations
▪ Finance
▪ Coding
Level
▪ 1
▪ 1
▪ 0
▪ 1
▪ 0

144.
144
Afterwards you have to set your target level of things you
want to concentrate on
Define your current
profile
Define your target
profile
Set your SMART goal
on this subject
Allocate time for this
or to-dos in the Kanban
/ shelf for future tasks
VP of sales / CEO
▪ Sales
▪ Marketing
▪ Operations
▪ Finance
▪ Coding
Level
▪ 1
▪ 1
▪ 0
▪ 1
▪ 0
VP of sales / CEO
▪ Sales
▪ Marketing
▪ Operations
▪ Finance
▪ Coding
Level
▪ 3
▪ 5
▪ 2
▪ 2
▪ 1

145.
145
…. And you convert them into SMART goals
Define your current
profile
Define your target
profile
Set your SMART goal
on this subject
Allocate time for this
or to-dos in the Kanban
/ shelf for future tasks
VP of sales / CEO
▪ Sales
▪ Marketing
▪ Operations
▪ Finance
▪ Coding
Level
▪ 1
▪ 1
▪ 0
▪ 1
▪ 0
VP of sales / CEO
▪ Sales
▪ Marketing
▪ Operations
▪ Finance
▪ Coding
Level
▪ 3
▪ 5
▪ 2
▪ 2
▪ 1
Goals for Year 1
▪ Sales – jump by 1 level
▪ Marketing – jump by 2
levels
▪ Operations – jump by 1
level

146.
146
In last stage you convert them into tasks
Define your current
profile
Define your target
profile
Set your SMART goal
on this subject
Allocate time for this
or to-dos in the Kanban
/ shelf for future tasks
VP of sales / CEO
▪ Sales
▪ Marketing
▪ Operations
▪ Finance
▪ Coding
Level
▪ 1
▪ 1
▪ 0
▪ 1
▪ 0
VP of sales / CEO
▪ Sales
▪ Marketing
▪ Operations
▪ Finance
▪ Coding
Level
▪ 3
▪ 5
▪ 2
▪ 2
▪ 1
Goals for Year 1
▪ Sales – jump by 1 level
▪ Marketing – jump by 2
levels
▪ Operations – jump by 1
level
Allocate time
▪ Every Friday or
▪ 1 month devoted to studying
Example of to-dos
▪ SALES: Reading 2 articles on
cold-calling
▪ SALES: Work on 1 day in a call
center
▪ SALES: Work on 1 hour every
day in a customer service
▪ MARKETING: Reading 2
articles on content marketing
▪ MARKETING: Reading 2
articles on marketing
automation
▪ MARKETING: Learn to use
Buffer
▪ MARKETING: Learn to use
Buzzsumo
▪ OPERATIONS: Read 50 pages
of Goal (book on theory of
constraints)
▪ OPERATIONS: Analyze 3
processes at your company
using OLE and bottleneck
analysis

147.
147
1 piece flow

148.
148
Thanks to well set up process I got my tooth removed in under 20 minutes
from entering the building to leaving it without the tooth in a taxi heading
home
Register Take picture Tooth removal Payment
▪ 2 minutes ▪ 5 minutes ▪ 5 minutes ▪ 2 minutes

149.
149
Why it make sense to use 1-piece flow
Maximal Output
Successes come often
No work in progress
Fewer chances to do
something wrong
Faster reaction time
Brain is more likely to
experience flow
Less distractions
Bigger order
Faster you discover
whether it made sense
Lower waste

150.
150
As you can see one piece flow for content marketing gives
you more often results than extreme batching. Yet it is not as
efficient
Research topics for a
post
Write a post Create illustration
Number of posts
done at the same
time
Edit and modify
post, add illustration
and schedule
Outcome
▪ 1 day per post
▪ 4 days on this phase
▪ 1 day per post
▪ 4 days on this phase
▪ 1 day per post
▪ 4 days on this phase
▪ 1 day per post
▪ 4 days on this phase
▪ 4 post every
16 days
▪ 1 day per post
▪ 1 days on this phase
▪ 1 day per post
▪ 1 days on this phase
▪ 1 day per post
▪ 1 days on this phase
▪ 1 day per post
▪ 1 days on this phase
▪ 1 post every
4 days

151.
151
Smart batching

152.
152
Smart batching is a compromise between 1-piece flow and
extreme batching. You get some efficiencies yet you do not
do things in big batches
Extreme
batching
1 piece
flow
Smart
batching

153.
153
Example of smart batching for content marketing vs extreme
batching and 1 piece flow
Research topics for a
post
Write a post Create illustration
Number of posts
done at the same
time
Edit and modify
post, add illustration
and schedule
Outcome
▪ 1 day per post
▪ 4 days on this phase
▪ 1 day per post
▪ 4 days on this phase
▪ 1 day per post
▪ 4 days on this phase
▪ 1 day per post
▪ 4 days on this phase
▪ 4 post every
16 days
▪ 1 day per post
▪ 1 days on this phase
▪ 1 day per post
▪ 1 days on this phase
▪ 1 day per post
▪ 1 days on this phase
▪ 1 day per post
▪ 1 days on this phase
▪ 1 post every
4 days
▪ 1 day per post
▪ 2 days on this phase
▪ 1 day per post
▪ 2 days on this phase
▪ 1 day per post
▪ 2 days on this phase
▪ 1 day per post
▪ 2 days on this phase
▪ 2 post every
8 days

154.
154
Why it make sense to use smart batching
Efficiency Gains
Some (limited) work in
progress
Compromise between
efficiency & stimulation
Suitable for known tasks
No flood of output for
your customers

155.
155
How long it takes to complete 1 piece?
Is it boring?
What Is the set-up / switching cost high?
?
High
Yes
Hours Weeks
No
Hours Weeks
Low
Yes
Hours Weeks
No
Hours Weeks
When it makes sense to use smart batching?
Smart
batching
Extreme
batching
1-piece flow

156.
156
Automation

157.
157
What is automation?
Full automation Semi-automatic

158.
158
What is the benefit of automation
Huge Time savings
Some (limited) work in
progress
Compromise between
efficiency & stimulation
Suitable for known tasks
No flood of output for
your customers

159.
159
Examples of automation
Area Basic Tool Automation
▪ Analysis ▪ Excel
▪ Access
▪ SPSS
▪ VBA
▪ Emailing ▪ Email ▪ Emailing programs with
autoresponders i.e. Mailchimp,
GetResponse
▪ Marketing automation solutions
▪ Pictures
preparation
▪ Paint ▪ Canva and Canva for Work
▪ Content
marketing
▪ Power Point
▪ Facebook / Twitter modules
▪ VBA for Power Point
▪ Buffer
▪ Zapier
▪ IFTTT

160.
160
Examples of semiautomatic solutions
Manual Automatic

161.
161
Examples – marketing automation

162.
162
Examples – marketing automation

163.
163
Delegate

164.
164
There are 2 types of delegations
Delegate part of the
work
Full outsourcing

165.
165
You have to follow some rules to make delegation successful
Same standards as you
Use your templates
Trained by you
Control tool
Same philosophy of
work
Ordering tool
Manage capacity for
delegation

166.
166
Examples of delegation from management consultants -
Option 1
Write in pencil
presentation
Template in
Power Point
Conduct analysis
for the slides
Fill in slides
Person performing
the task
Overview and
modifications
Additional
analyses
Visual
modification
Final overview
You
1 day
sb
x day
Duration of task
performance
You
2 days
You
14 days
You
4 days
You
1 day
You
2 days
You
2 days
You
1 day

167.
167
Examples of delegation from management consultants -
Option 2
Write in pencil
presentation
Template in
Power Point
Conduct analysis
for the slides
Fill in slides
Person performing
the task
Overview and
modifications
Additional
analyses
Visual
modification
Final overview
PM / Associate
1 day
sb
x day
Duration of task
performance
Business Analyst
2 days
Business Analyst
14 days
Business Analyst
4 days
PM / Associate
1 day
Business Analyst
2 days
Visual Assistant
2 days
PM / Associate
1 day

168.
168
Have a look at what gives you delegating in terms of money
PM / Associate 27 day
Business Analyst
Visual Assistant
0 days
0 days
Option 1 – You do everything Option 2 – You delegate whatever you can
PM / Associate 3 day
Business Analyst
Visual Assistant
22 days
2 days
Cost of the project = 27 K Cost of the project = 10 K

169.
169
Zero defect rule

170.
170
Zero defect rule
Find the error as soon as possible
and eliminate it from the flow

171.
171
Examples of management consultants – where should be the
checking points?
Write in pencil
presentation
Template in
Power Point
Conduct analysis
for the slides
Fill in slides
Person performing
the task
Overview and
modifications
Additional
analyses
Visual
modification
Final overview
PM / Associate
1 day
sb
x day
Duration of task
performance
Business Analyst
2 days
Business Analyst
14 days
Business Analyst
4 days
PM / Associate
1 day
Business Analyst
2 days
Visual Assistant
2 days
PM / Associate
1 day
Additional
checkpoints

172.
172
Poka Yoke

173.
173
Poka Yoke Example in office

174.
174
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course
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Productivity Hacks
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175.
175
Go also to the presentation showing tips how to solve
management consulting cases during interview
How to get into Consulting?
Practical guide how to pass the Interview
presentation

176.
176
You can also find useful some tips on Excel
Essential Excel for Business
Analysts and Consultants
A practical guide
presentation

177.
177
Check my presentation on on-line models to understand
them properly
Market research
Practical guide for startups and entrepreneurs
presentation

178.
178
More cases you can find in my on-line course where I
show step by step how to solve cases
Click to check my course
How to get into consulting –
Management Consulting Cases
$45
$15

179.
179
Check my presentation on on-line models to understand
them properly
Business models
Practical guide for startups and entrepreneurs
presentation

180.
180
Check my presentation on financial modeling
Financial modeling for Business
Analyst and Consultants
Step by step practical guide
presentation

181.
181
Check my presentation on on-line models to understand
them properly
How to become world class
analyst
A practical guide
presentation

182.
182
Check my presentation on on-line models to understand
them properly
How to open a successful
restaurant
A practical guide
presentation

183.
183
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