+

Creative Problem Solving for Case Interviews: Introduction to practical tools and techniques

J-P Martins Head of Consulting Careers October 2011

MBA Consulting Curriculum 2011-12: Continuing Feedback

+Introduction

n  This was a 90 minute presentation, originally scheduled to kick off the Creative Problem Solving course, but shifted to a position after the Booz workshop due to DPO and other scheduling constraints

n  As a result (and no regrets!) the presentation focused not on introducing cases, but rather on a series of practical tools and techniques, principally revolving around alternative ways of structuring problem solving approaches

n  The presentation was held in LT6, scheduled from 11:15 to 12:45. However, it started 5 minutes late as students took time to arrive and settle, and was interrupted 10 minutes early by a faculty member wanting to use the lecture theatre

n  I did not manage to cover the materials I had set out AND leave time for questions at the end – as a result I added a specific question to the usual feedback questions to canvass how students would like this handled in future

n  Despite comment otherwise, we did finish before 12:45

+Summary

n  Both events were excellently received n  100% of respondents would recommend the ½ day Problem Solving

Workshop

n  The Case Book Launch works well as an event, but there remains room for fine tuning

n  Communication remains a challenge – some students remain unaware of the Consulting Curriculum and how the events fit together

n  The original concept of a 1 day problem solving workshop might have legs if it can be kept ‘fresh’ throughout the day

n  Some students still want lots more frameworks and detail – they are missing the point

+‘Practical Tools’: 86% would recommend it strongly

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

The format and content of the presentation were excellent

The presenter was engaging and informative

The event was well organised - logistics and venue were appropriate

I would strongly recommend this event to next year's first year MBA students

1

1

5

2

4

26

27

26

16

6

9

9

16

Disagree Strongly Disagree Agree Agree Strongly

Response rate: 37/110 (34%)

+Strong preference to keep all the content, most would like more time

Reschedule to a longer time slot or slots

Run through the content more quickly, allowing time for questions and finishing within the 90

minutes

Reduce the content to make it more interactive and keep to 90 minutes

Other

18

11

5

4

‘This event did not run to time (sincere apologies). Should we:’

+Comments

+Comments:

n  The session was good but not excellent

n  I think this session should be braked into 2 to make more time for each slide

n  I sat at back - my fault - and really struggled to read any slides lot of info in small font

n  It was ok. Excellent is a push...

n  Ran into my lecture at 12.45, we need to finish earlier please

n  Venue was a bit on the small side

n  The presentation needed more time, especially for Q&A

Format and Content Logistics and Venue

n  [Agree strongly] but provided they had been to the workshop before

n  Recommend the slides not sure I’d recommend strongly attending the peer to peer learning wasn't great

Overall recommendation

+‘Other’ suggestions for better managing the time issue:

n  Longer time slots where we can run through a less familiar industry, such as B2B solutions

n  Might help starting on time or even 10 mins earlier

n  Do not recap the content of the Booz session! (e.g. first example should not be Profit but different framework)

n  Run it a few times in smaller groups

+‘What should we do differently next time?’

n  A bit longer time slot or faster pace

n  Engage less the public during the presentation and leave room for questions in the end

n  More time

n  Finish on time

n  Either move quicker through the content, or reduce some of the content (but keep it on the slides so people can read//refer to it later

n  More interaction with audience test us for a few minutes

n  I think it is of help for inexperienced students to access to a 'resource centre' with all the useful tools available there

n  .

n  n/a

n  .

Timing, pace, interaction, resource centre Nothing!

+‘What should we do differently next time?’

n  Solve and develop more examples

n  Use a business to business example (too)

n  Discuss more examples similar to actual cases from interviews

n  Use a business to business example (too)

n  Discuss more examples similar to actual cases from interviews

n  A bit more industry-specific "denominators" for a wider range of industries

n  Discuss more frame works and usage

More examples, frameworks

+‘What should we do differently next time?’ – comments I will ignore… n  Spend a little more time explaining 'structure'. If that’s the foundation for your

solution, guidance on 'how to go about approaching structure' would be useful

n  The restaurant business is quite easy to grasp & solve problems for. The challenge is in encountering more complex/unfamiliar business which are not consumer-centric & where specialised industry knowledge might be useful... would be helpful if there were tips on how to tackle such cases

n  Solve and develop more examples

n  I have a feeling that we spend significantly more time (and more people) than I would have in real life, so the solution doesn't seem very true to life for me. I would like to know more true life examples of how the case was solved during the actual interview or see videos of the "stories of success". I still don't quite understand the process of the interview as well (what and how is being assessed)

n  Something that can perhaps be done is to circulate the restaurant problem (case) to all attendees a day in advance so they can think about a structure before they come for the session. That way, the session may run faster and the understanding of approach deeper

n  Do not cover any of the content that Booz has explained

n  Also, maybe do a role play to show how a case is tackled in the interview

The whole session was about structure

The point is to learn using an industry

everyone is familiar with!

We did three on Friday, you have links to many examples online, the

Casebook has 12, and there are still group

workshops and 1:1s to come!

Again, the point is to that you haven’t seen a case

beforehand!

I didn’t think I did!

Did this on Friday!

+‘What should we keep the same?’

n  Content (x 2)

n  . (x 2)

n  Good mix of examples and theory. Appreciated the clear messaging. A big improvement on earlier Consulting sessions

n  Same problem, different angles. Not covering exactly what Booz had previously

n  Please maintain the same case through the various frameworks to highlight the importance of frames – thanks

n  The way of presenting and analyzing the examples

n  The content is really strong

n  The first framework (P&L) with all the various level of detail and granularity was excellent

n  Explain how to use drivers and differentiators instead of just general frameworks

n  Information about frameworks

n  The restaurant example, with all the various sub-questions incorporating various framework was a good illustration

n  The style of presenting with examples was very useful

n  Covering the frameworks

n  Example tools and working through the case example

n  Content is great

n  The example that you went through and its variations depending on the tools you wanted to show-case was very good and I think gave pretty good insights to people not familiar with these types of cases/solving problems

Format and Content