Exchanging Methodology for Principles

We met with a prospective client today—the meeting went very well.

This client, a former consultant, first asked us: “so what am I buying here; what’s your methodology". Crafting and intellectually protecting a “methodology" is how consultants mass market what is essentially a one-to-one service. Methodology is a shield and a sword that allows an inexperienced MBA to go into a situation and start hacking and slashing.

We feel that it is better to have principles and experience. Two things, admittedly, that we are continuing to develop.

No, we don’t have a methodology yet. But we know in our gut that there is value in a light approach to analytics. We seen too many hours and too much talent wasted on analysis of the wrong problem. We know of frustration among business leaders because their business simply does not know what’s going on. We’ve seen the waste caused addressing the wrong questions. We’ve felt the loss of repetitive grunt-work. And we’re excited to show the world something different.

But this methodology; our approach as we learn it and craft it in the field is not a secret. Like RedMonk’s business principles, or the Agile software manifesto, we strive to openly recognize those who have helped us and the projects from which we draw our inspiration.