This is often said that "a good memory is not as good as a bad writing", and writing reading notes can help memory. So, why does the action of "writing" have a good memory effect? This is actually related to the working procedures of our brains. There are two types of memories. One is "declarative memory", that is, "remembering with the brain", such as reading and reciting. All the information will be filtered by the hippocampus, so you may not remember anything you want to remember.
Another kind of memory is "action memory", that is, "memory with the body", such as swimming and cycling. At this time, it does not need to be filtered by hippocampus, but processed by neural circuit network of basal nucleus and cerebellum. When the action is memorized in the neural network, it is hard to forget.
This explains why the poems recited when I was a child will be forgotten when I grow up, but I learned to ride a bike when I was a child. When I grow up, even if I don't ride for a long time, I will ride when I want to.
So the action of "taking notes" mentioned earlier is not only remembered by the brain, but also by a part of the body-the hand. Therefore, it is not only more conducive to the fixation of memory, but also makes thinking more organized and logical.
McKinsey's note thinking method is a way of thinking that exists to solve problems and improve oneself. By taking notes as a tangible object, you can take your thoughts out of your mind and turn them into words and charts, making them visual, concrete and organized, so as to find the root of solving problems and finally complete the work efficiently and with high quality.
Yu Xiang Oshima, the author of The Thinking Method of McKinsey Notes, once worked in a new career development strategy at McKinsey & Company and was a senior management consultant. He combined the thinking mode and working methods he learned at McKinsey with his own experience, and wrote books such as The First Course of McKinsey Induction Training, McKinsey Working Methods, and McKinsey Problem Solving Methods and Skills. Mckinsey's note thinking method is a highly targeted book, which teaches us how to use note thinking method to solve problems efficiently like McKinsey consultants.
The author introduces McKinsey's note thinking method from four aspects: mentality, method, skill and function, which correspond to the four chapters in the book respectively. Let's take a look at the key contents of each part respectively.
This part can be regarded as the preparation of using McKinsey's note thinking method to solve problems, one is material preparation and the other is mental preparation.
1.？ material preparation
If you like, you can prepare three notebooks:
Horizontal annotation: used to collect information.
Check notes: used to sort out ideas for solving problems.
McKinsey Note: Used to publish results.
Of course, if you think it's too much trouble to use three notes, you can just use one plaid notebook.
2.？ mental preparation
You need to realize that taking notes is not only for recording, but also for deepening thinking, sorting out ideas and solving problems. It can be regarded as your "second brain", so it's okay to make a mess of your notes, because neatness is not the purpose.
This part is the focus of this book. The author uses a specific case-"A's poor sales" to explain in detail how to solve the problem by taking notes, which can help us understand the essence of this method. The author divides problem-solving by taking notes into four steps:
Step 1: Set Basic Questions
Collect information comprehensively with horizontal notes and divide the information into three categories: where is the problem, why and how, and write it in the grid book. In view of the problem of "poor sales of commodity A", the collected information is divided into the following three categories and listed one by one:
The key of this step is to distinguish the three kinds of information and not to confuse them. Only in this way can we clear our thinking, find the real problem, that is, the argument, and then correct the cognitive deviation by analyzing the relevant factors, and then establish the hypothesis.
According to the above method, the author found that there seems to be a correlation between "the sales of the city department are very good" and "the sales of the specialty stores are very good", so we can extract the above two points-"the sales method of the specialty stores in the city department" as a question and think about the next step: What enlightenment can the sales method of the specialty stores in the city department provide?
Step 2: Establish a hypothesis
It is best to choose the form of asking questions and be specific.
For the problems mentioned above, we can choose the question label "Should we increase the sales of commodity A in the city department store" as a hypothesis, and then propose a solution: increase the sales of commodity A by strengthening the sales support for the city department store.
Use grid notes to group concerned information according to "fact", "explanation" and "action", that is, list commonly used "empty umbrella" diagrams.
The key to this step is to distinguish between subjective judgments and facts, and not to separate unreasonable questions from information. This can effectively avoid the deviation of the results. For example, don't divide the explanation of "it won't rain every time I go out with an umbrella" into the group of "facts", because this is only a personal subjective opinion.
Well, now that the hypothesis is established, we should draw the overall story line to solve the problem according to the hypothesis, that is, the beginning, bearing, turning and ending needed to solve the problem. Use horizontal and grid notes at this time.
Based on the assumptions established above, we can describe the story line to solve this problem as follows:
Then, next, we need to test the hypothesis and confirm whether this story line is correct.
Step 3: Test the hypothesis.
In order to test the hypothesis, we need to go to the scene with this hypothesis. At this time, we take notes with horizontal bars.
Whether you can get valuable clues depends on two points, one is to prepare in advance, and the other is to improvise.
Regarding the preparation in advance, you must draw up a list of questions in the horizontal notes before going to the site for inspection, so that you can set questions in a targeted manner and won't miss some important questions because of various situations on the spot. It is the same reason that talk show hosts must do their homework before interviewing guests.
In view of the above assumption that "strengthening the sales support for city department stores can increase the sales of commodity A", we can list the following questions:
Question 1: What is the average time for a city department store to receive customers?
Question 2: What is the reception content of city department stores?
Question 3: How to deal with customers' questions?
Then we came to the scene with these questions. At this time, it's time to test our questioning skills, just as a good talk show host can dig out the real thoughts of guests through constant questioning. When we are on the spot, we also need to approach the essence of the problem step by step by constantly asking questions. In order to achieve this goal, you can use the method of "repeating why five times". For example, when we ask, "Is there any product like A that sells well?" After this question, you can ask the following questions:
We lead to question B from question A, and after getting the answer, we will get an assumption: although the price of commodity A is lower than that of commodity B, the reason for the poor sales is that there are no samples. Then we put forward the question of samples again with question C, verified the hypothesis, and finally got the final reason why commodity A has no samples.
It can be seen that for this question, you can get the final answer by asking it three times, while for more complicated questions, you may need to ask it five times to find out why.
Step 4: Summarize the results.
Therefore, it is time to sum up our achievements. Generally speaking, the proposal provided to customers is presented in the form of PPT. Here you need to make a summary with a notebook, which is equivalent to making a draft with notes. McKinsey notes and grid notes are required.
Specifically, we can first establish a framework for the proposal, and then summarize all the facts and reasons supporting the facts within this framework. Here I propose two methods, one is "emphasizing form" and the other is "pyramid structure".
The principle of these two methods is the same. From top to bottom, according to the power law of 3, the viewpoints, reasons and reasons are listed in turn. They calculate the process of solving the problem from the embryonic form of the result. Doing so can make your proposal more logical, convincing and easy to understand, because customers want to see well-founded analysis.
At this time, you can start making PPT for customers, and follow three principles in the process of making:
Principle 1: the viewpoint of the Ministry of Public Transport
First of all, you need to think about who, when and how to convey it most effectively.
Principle 2: A chart, a message.
The most essential solution must be as beautiful and firm as a crystal, so the process of making display materials can be regarded as the purification process of getting crystals. Purification process is a process of refining key points and removing impurity information. If you find the crystallization process difficult to understand, you might as well understand it as the process of distilling wine.
Principle 3: Power Law of 3
It is to use the "power of 3" to form and expand the results and limit the scope, which can force you to refine the information, prevent the uncontrolled increase of the results, and make your work both efficient and quality.
At this point, using McKinsey's note thinking method and following the above four steps, the problem of "poor sales of commodity A" mentioned above has been solved. Let's summarize the whole process:
Tip 1: Use the "3C" framework flexibly.
From the above four steps of McKinsey's note-taking method to solve problems, we can find that almost every step is not grouped and classified. Here, the author introduces an important skill-flexible use of the "3C" framework, that is, listing the company, customers and competitors separately, so that we can consider all factors comprehensively and fairly and avoid overestimating the strengths of ourselves and the company, so as to make an objective evaluation.
This method is very effective when you want to change jobs. The author gives an example to illustrate: how to put forward his own advantages when changing jobs.
Not just job-hopping, before you start any action, you can use the "3C" framework to sort out the strengths and weaknesses in your notes.
Tip 2: Merge similar projects.
Using a notebook can also solve the problem of time management. When you record time usage, combine similar projects and integrate the same things into the same time. For example, if you used Foxmail to receive emails at any time before, and immediately replied when you saw new emails, it would take a lot of energy and time to send and receive emails, so it is better to fix the time for sending and receiving emails at a suitable time, such as after work and before work, or before and after lunch, so that you can concentrate on doing in-depth work at other times.
In this part, the author mainly focuses on how to make your life better by taking notes. No matter how you choose the size of your notes, whether you are "one school" or "two schools", or you use note-taking to introspect or rectify your heart, don't forget the most important point, that is, the ultimate goal of note-taking is to improve yourself.
The book McKinsey's Notes Thinking Method introduces a problem-solving methodology. The author Yu Xiang Oshima extracts the important role of "taking notes" in solving problems. From setting the essential question, establishing the hypothesis and verifying the hypothesis, and finally summarizing the results, the author makes a detailed interpretation with a case that runs through, in which the logical thinking method is the key to solving the problem by taking notes.
Following the author's ideas, let's learn the ideas and methods of McKinsey consultants to solve problems. However, just mastering methodology is not enough. The key depends on how you use it flexibly according to your own situation. It can be used not only in work, but also in life.
Finally, don't forget that the ultimate goal of using McKinsey's note thinking method is to improve your ability. Flexible use of note thinking method, making it a sharp weapon in work, making notes both the starting point of work and the end point of solving problems.