Consultancy tips for OMI projects

OMI and Oxford University Careers Service

Michaelmas Term 2012

Implement

Phases of a typical project

Communicate findings

Formulateconclusions

Gatherdata

StructureProblem

Break problem down

Generate hypotheses

Specify data needed to validate or refute

Develop preliminary work plans

In-house knowledge

Industry sources

Client

Primary research

Modelling

Identify options

Evaluate options in light of findings

Make recommendations

Informal and formal reviews

Note and respond to issues and concerns

Overall planning

Prototyping and / or piloting

Execution

• Ensures you cover all the possible parts of the problem, even if you discount some initially

• Keep the overall client objective in mind and make sure that each part of the structure supports it

• For each part you have prioritised, make some hypotheses

– Competition has lower costs– Customers (or some sub-set) want a different product

StructureProblem

100s or 1,000s of products, variants, services, customers, sales – you cannot think about them all

•Define useful segments of each area

•With common characteristics and drivers of behaviourFor example, for us, OMI partners fall into three categories

• Specific problem • General problem • Don’t know what their problem is

Segment each relevant area so you can cope

• Everything,

• Focus: market analysis

Segmentation of MPI Ecuador project

Exercise 1: Think about some segments for Manna Project International (MPI) market analysis and develop several hypothesis for one of them.

• Product

• Service

• Customers

• Competition

• Pricing

• Costs

• External environment

• Think about what the ideal result will be

– Sketch the chart– Think big/wide/ideal world

• Work back to identify the best data sources

– Industry publications– General articles– Surveys – you don’t need many– Anecdote, ‘nuggets’ from interview

• Directionally sound may be sufficient, depending on the data

Having hypothesised some segments, identify and collect data to test it

Comparisons

• With the organisation itself over time

– Year on year growth– Seasonality

• With competitors

– In same or different geography

• With what the customers want

• With absolute standards (eg 100% right first time)

Exercise 2: Describe the data and outputs you want to test your hypotheses

• Use your hypotheses and segments

• Develop the charts/findings you would need

• Sketch results

• Suggest how you will source the data you need

Proposal Letters• Set expectations

• Demonstrate your understanding

• What you’ll do and won’t do

• When you’ll do it

• Who is doing it

• How you’ll do it

• What you’ll deliver

Sections of a proposal letter – 1• Introduction

– It was a pleasure to meet you….

• Background

– 3rd party non-contentious description of the client– Demonstrate your understanding of the situation

• Issues to be addressed / being faced by the client

– Easiest to write these as open questions with sub-parts eg– What levels of customer service should XX strive for?

• By customer type• By day of week• As measured in lead time and reliability

Proposal letter - 2• Scope – set the limits

– We will focus initially on xxx sector of the market

• How we will work with you

– Where? If on client site, will you need a room?– How often meet?– Who are the key contacts on each side?

• Deliverables

– Describe your outputs: meetings, reports

• Staffing and Timing

– Who is working on the project – include 1 para CVs in appendix– Set some dates

• Close warmly

Proposal letter - 3

• MPI template

• Legal disclaimer

Exercise – draft what you can of a proposal letter; identify the gaps

• What questions will you ask in your first client meeting?

Market Research and Interviewing

Gatherdata

Before you go

• Designate a Fieldwork Co-ordinator• Daily schedule• Allow for flexibility• Information about transport, public holidays etc• Prepare material: Surveys, interview questions• Keep client informed

Funding

•Colleges – DEADLINES- Hertford: Edmund de Unger Academic Purposes- Lincoln: Travel Grant, Old Members Fund, Annual

Fund•OMI and clients•Other funds and trusts, charity funds at companies eg 02 Think Big•Alumni grants (https://www.alumni.ox.ac.uk/)

Primary data sourcesInformation collected specifically to solve a problem

• Observation (mechanical or personal)• Questioning (in depth focus groups, group interviews etc)

Secondary data sourcesPreviously collected or published information

•Inside organisation•Outside organisation

Data sources

1. Define the audience

2. How will you collect the data?

3. Select a sampling method

4. How will we analyse any data collected?

5. Speak to the clients requesting the research. Make sure that you agree on

the problem!

6. Go ahead and collect the data

7. Conduct the analysis of the data

8. Check for errors, eliminate outliers

Market Research

• Qualitative research

– Seeks in-depth, open-ended responses, not Yes or No answers– Personal in-depth interview– Focus group interview– Findings can be used as a basis for further quantitative research

• Quantitative research

– Seeks structured responses that can be summarised numerically– Usually through surveys– Sampling reduces the need to survey everyone

Collecting primary data

1. Ask for too much personal info2. Bad timing – get people at the wrong time3. Survey takes too long to complete4. Unclear/ambiguous questions5. Unusable scales6. Too much free text7. Unrelated to hypothesis – collecting irrelevant details/data (see 3)8. Leading questions 9. Sequence is wrong10. “How much more of this is there?”

Ways to collect data – Surveying

Top 10 things not to do in a survey:

Human resources during fieldwork

Work with the client and other local institutions, especially universities !

BENEFITS• Quick and extensive results by working with a bigger group (eg OMI

researchers, client’s HR and local students)• Ethnocentricity & cultural sensibility • Language constraints

• Introduce yourself, your purpose and your time constraints – modify your introductory phrases depending on people’s reactions

• Ask open questions and probing questions

• MIX & MATCH – quantitative and qualitative questions

• Active listening – what is being said and how it is being said

• PAIR UP – 1 person taking notes, 1 person interviewing

Ways to collect data - interviewing

ImplementCommunicate

findingsFormulate

conclusionsGather

dataStructureProblem

Break problem down

Generate hypotheses

Specify data needed to validate or refute

Develop preliminary work plans

In-house knowledge

Industry sources

Client

Primary research

Modelling

Identify options

Evaluate options in light of findings

Make recommendations

Informal and formal reviews

Note and respond to issues and concerns

Overall planning

Prototyping and / or piloting

Execution

• Do the data support the hypothesis?

– Yes– No– Sort of

• Refine the hypothesis and collect more data if necessary

• Work out what you now have learned – what’s the next level of hypothesis?

Formulateconclusions

The proposal and presentation are your promise and your legacy

• Proposal sets expectations

– What you’ll do and won’t do– When you’ll do it– Who is doing it

• Presentation is an historic record of your quality

– Clearly articulates your conclusions and their supporting data– Is accurate and unambiguous– Lays out actions for the client– Is self-standing – can be understood without you there, 6

months later

Communicate findings

Report writing is difficult to do well

• It is unlike essay or article writing, no flowing English

• Relies on inductive logic

• Requires strong structure on each page…

• …and from one page to the next

• Needs a strong ‘red line’

• Your report will be your presentation

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Overall report structure

• Executive summary – write this last

• Body organised around the conclusions of your study

• Recommendations for Next Steps at the end

• Details in an appendix (perhaps bound separately)

• Use the OMI Template

How to write a great report, and have a panic-free project

• Layout overall report with ‘place holders’

• Firm up sections as you collect data and confirm hypotheses

• Keep reviewing overall order

• Check there is an overall story

• Polish every word and phrase

Vertical logic leads from the headline, and gives support with bullet points/charts

• Structured like a newspaper – headline first, tell the essentials of the story

• Make sure it answers “So what?”

• Support the headline with evidence on the page

• Check for a common mistake: putting your headline in the final bullet point

Final tips to reduce panic and induce calm and order

• Draft in the first week

• Update and reorder it as you learn

• No pride in ownership

• Sin of omission is worse than the sin of commission

• Discard analyses if they prove nothing or go nowhere

• Be ruthless: cut words…

• …and choose exactly the right word