New Consulting: Showing, not telling
In the new world of consulting (the one that includes accepting the fact that it’s impossible to know what will be successful or not (90% of startups fail), the one that accepts experimentation as testing over a business case, the one that treats each failed experiment as data, the one where action and context are king) we accept that in almost every case, doing something is better than just talking about it.
Doing is the way through uncertainty, through risk, through the fog, through writer’s block.
Many call it bias towards action. I avoid phrases like that because they are so polluted with corporate dogma that many will either roll their eyes at it, or nod their head knowingly thinking they understand what it means. However, taking its original form, it is what I mean.
Let’s break it down.
- We can 5 hours talking about our customers, or we can spend an hour talking to our customers.
- We can talk and talk and talk about how a new product should work, or we can quickly create a mock-up of one.
- We can talk and talk about what the agenda should be, or we can quickly do a draft agenda and correct it.
- We can talk about our concerns about the presentation, or we can do a dry run with a stranger.
- We can talk about everything we know about the project, or we can map it all on a wall as a collective group.
We don’t do this as a habit because ‘action’ is still still judged. We are too worried to show work until it’s finished, but happy enough to talk about it for ages.
If someone is trying to explain something to you, ask them to draw it.
If you aren’t sure where to start, start anywhere, build it, present it, draw it, even if it doesn’t exist yet.
