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Keeping track of key points after a case

best practice Notes Practice cases
Neue Antwort am 19. Mai 2020
6 Antworten
1,1 T. Views
Mouna fragte am 17. Mai 2020

Hi all,

I am starting to practise cases, and I was wondering what were the best practises in terms of how to keep track of the most relevant points learnt (industry-wise, structuring etc..) after a mock interview/self-practise. I am not sure how to organize them, would be helpful if you could share your experience.

Thanks,

Mouna

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Anonym antwortete am 17. Mai 2020

Hi Mouna,

I would structure the key takeaways into 3 buckets:

1) Key learnings about "case types": these are points you learned regarding the different types of cases that are interesting to have in the back of your mind (eg. for a profitability case, what are the most common variable and fixed costs that should pop up in your mind directly.... for a growth case, remember to think of the Ansoff matrix to make sure your options are MECE)

2) Key learning about "industries": these are points to have in your mind whenever a case is regarding a specific industry (e.g., Whenever you are solving a case in healthcare, remember to assess how insurance companies could affect the solution....whenever you deal with airlines, remember to assess if splitting the trips between short/medium/long haul (and their respective beverage distance) could offer more insightful answers)

3) Key learning about communication: these are points to remember whenever you want to structure and present your opening/closing statements (e.g., pyramid principle)

Additional notes could include math tricks to help you with your arithmetics.

I hope this helps, feel free to reach out for any additional help.

Best

Khaled

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Mouna am 17. Mai 2020

Thank you Khaled, exactly what I needed!

Anonym antwortete am 18. Mai 2020

Dear Mouna,

Thank you for your question, I've been asked it multiple times and just recently by my mentees. So, the best thing is to create a table in Excel or smth like that, where you could track the results by dates, by content, by case type and also by feedback which you have received and your learnings that you've made on the case. It's very important to structure the feedback you received during the cases or self-practicing for certain criteria - like individual performance, communication, quantitative analysis, structuring skills etc.

If you need an example of it, feel free to drop me a line.
Good luck,

and feel free to reach out if you need any help,

André

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Clara
Experte
Content Creator
antwortete am 18. Mai 2020
McKinsey | Awarded professor at Master in Management @ IE | MBA at MIT |+180 students coached | Integrated FIT Guide aut

Hello!

Good question!

Indeed, keeping a little tracker with your key insights is a good practice not only for consulting, but life in general!

Find whichever format works best for you. Perhaps an Excel matrix? Or a simple notebook?

Hope it helps

Cheers,

Clara

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Vlad
Experte
antwortete am 17. Mai 2020
McKinsey / Accenture Alum / Got all BIG3 offers / Harvard Business School

Hi,

Several things that you should be doing on a regular basis:

1) Keep an issue log. Track similar feedback / mistakes you are making

2) Every 10 cases revisit the previous cases and think how you would structure them differently now having the new experience and having solved the new types of cases

3) Build business judgment. Read about different industries and functions. I strongly recommend practice drawing structures for each industry - profitability, value chain, etc . Then I will switch to getting functional knowledge and key concepts in Marketing (Brand and trade marketing tools, etc), Supply chain (Ops metrics like cycle time and throughput time, distribution and delivery specifics, etc), Finance (Basic Accounting and Valuation). Good sources might be:

  • Cases - write down all insights, but make sure that the person giving you the case knows what he is saying
  • Books - one good book about airlines with numbers and industry analysis can give you all needed industry knowledge
  • Company reports, equity reports, etc - usually have a good overview of company and industries.One of the best sources to prepare
  • HBS cases - quite useful, but not sure if lot's of them available publically. Probably worth buying

Again, every 10 cases revisit the previous cases and think how you would structure them differently now having the new knowledge

Best

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Ian
Experte
Content Creator
antwortete am 17. Mai 2020
#1 BCG coach | MBB | Tier 2 | Digital, Tech, Platinion | 100% personal success rate (8/8) | 95% candidate success rate

Hi Mouna,

This is great practice for both casing + consulting.

A true consultant would already have a vision for how to optimally organize this! (Importantly, it depends on how you think/learn)

Have a brainstorm about what information is most important/relevant, how it relates to each other, and how it should best be organized...then, come back to us with a proposal/mockup!

Tip: Sketch it out, think outloud, and draw out a few options!

Tip 2: Excel is your friend

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Anonym antwortete am 19. Mai 2020

Hi Mouna,

It is definitely a great idea to keep track of your learnings.

There are a few buckets which you can put them into:

  1. Structure/framework related - even better if you come up with your own structures after you practice enough of the different types of cases
  2. Industry nuances - so that you know the basics and what to prioritize
  3. Mistakes you made - check on your pattern and how can you do differently next time
  4. What you can further improve to make your performance from good to great

As you progress further you can update your buckets e.g. some in 3 would be gone and you can strike them out.

In terms of the tool, it doesn't matter. Just use whatever you feel convenient.

Best,

Emily

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