Hello everyone, I am Lao Yuan.
We often say "high performance", so how to become a high performance person? In fact, in addition to physical and mental strength, high performance is more important than brain power. Brain power here does not refer to intelligence, but structured thinking.
As you continue to grow and advance in the workplace, the level will become higher and higher, and the more things you need to judge every day, you need to have the ability to judge quickly.
At this time, what I especially want to train everyone is structured thinking.
I have worked with many companies, provided them with project management consulting services, and trained their executives and employees.
For example, if we want to train an executive, we must train him in the entire business management module, top-level design, talent inventory, organizational change, product single-point blasting, community operations, and new business development. Everything can be structured.
No matter what industry you are in, structured training can and must be done.
You can break down tasks with structure, learn and memorize with structure, and express with structure...
For every professional person, the most important ability is the ability to solve problems, and structured thinking can help you become a person who is good at solving problems.
So what is structured thinking? What useful thinking tools can be applied?
1. What is structured thinking?
Before starting, I would like to ask you to recall whether you have ever encountered such troubles:
1. Your team members don't know what specific work the project includes, what should you do? 2. I often work overtime during the deadline, and I will be criticized if the effect is not good! 3. I am most afraid of holding meetings, writing reports, and writing summaries. Repeated revisions will never achieve the presentation effect. 4. Others can always hit the nail on the head. You always talk for a long time or you are questioned: What exactly do you want to express? 5. When you lead a team, people always don't know their responsibilities, what should you do?
If so, then you can rest assured that this is not a problem of your IQ, nor your ability, nor your lack of knowledge or experience.
Because you must be like this: you know how to solve these problems in your heart, but you don’t do it like this; in fact, when you report, you have prepared a lot of speeches in your heart, but you just can’t express them.
There is only one root cause: you complicate complex issues.
Structural thinking is a way of thinking that helps you break down and simplify problems.
Bill Gates emphasized "difficult to split." Leonardo Da Vinci also left the famous saying "simplicity is the ultimate complexity", I believe you must have heard it.
Therefore, no matter how difficult and complicated the work is, it is essentially a superposition of basic work.
"A person who sees through the essence in a second is destined to be different from a person who spends a lifetime seeing through the essence."
Definition of structured thinking: a thinking method that takes the structure of things as the thinking object to guide thinking, express and solve problems. Pretty abstract, right?
When you think about why you always have to work overtime, always procrastinate, can't write a good plan, can't make a perfect report, etc., you should actually look back and think about it, what is the essential problem?
We need to reflect, in the overall link, which node has a problem, is the unreasonable absorption, processing and processing of information, which makes our brains chaotic and complicated?
Once you're messy and complicated, your brain doesn't want to deal with it, and you choose to procrastinate and avoid. Because the brain likes regular information, don't feed it all at once.
And this is also the meaning of structured thinking.
The advantage of "structured thinking" is that it can help us form a way of thinking that processes information quickly and effectively, simplify the thinking process, and thus improve the ability to present results.
So how to train our structured thinking? What tools and methods can be used?
2. Structured thinking tools
Before I start sharing tools, let me share a book with you.
I have studied in the field of project management for a long time. I read "PMBOK" when I entered the industry. It systematically organizes the entire management system and solutions into a very complete knowledge system.
It has been almost 10 years now, and I still think it is top1.
why? Because the tools I will share next will be mentioned in this book, and will tell you in detail how to use them and what effect they should achieve.
And these tools can be used in daily work and in any industry, and some of you have come into contact with them.
As for PDCA, I won't say much, you should have seen a lot...
Let's talk about something else today:
01 WBS (Work Breakdown Structure, that is, work breakdown structure)
The definition of WBS is a deliverable-oriented grouping of project elements, which summarizes and defines the entire scope of work of the project, and each step down represents a more detailed definition of project work.
In human terms, with delivery as the goal, disassemble this goal layer by layer, the more detailed the better, until it can no longer be disassembled. Allows you to manage the smallest unit.
The principle of using this method is:
02 mind map
Needless to say, mind maps are the most commonly used structured thinking tools.
For example, every time I write an article, I will first list my framework on the mind map, and then continue to fill in the materials and improve the content.
But many people have a misunderstanding when using this tool: the pursuit of good painting.
But the essence of the mind map is to help us sort out information and disassemble the content. The important thing is to "use it well".
As a tool for thinking, mind mapping is like chopsticks for holding food. The first thing to pay attention to is its practicality, and the second is its aesthetics.
03 Cause and Effect Diagram (Fishbone Diagram)
This is an analysis method that helps you see the essence through the phenomenon, and it is also a method to find the "root cause" of the problem.
The sooner you discover the nature of the problem, the sooner you can find a solution to it.
This is a non-quantitative tool designed to help you trace back to the root cause. Because it is shaped like a fishbone, it is called a fishbone diagram.
The usage is very simple, and there are many tools that can be used immediately on the Internet. I will simply share 3 types:
A. Collating problem-type fishbone diagram (there is no causal relationship between each element and characteristic value, but a structural relationship) B. Reason-type fishbone diagram (the fish head is on the right, and the characteristic value is usually written as "why") C , Countermeasure fishbone diagram (the fish head is on the left, and the characteristic value is usually written as "how to solve")
You can choose to use it according to your actual needs.
04 Resource Breakdown Structure (RBS)
Definition of Resource Breakdown Structure (RBS): It mainly helps you divide and decompose existing resources.
For example, time, personnel, funds, related parties, etc. can all belong to resources.
For example, at the beginning of the project, when mobilizing resources from the company or purchasing resources, a unified arrangement must be made. How many computers, how many designers, how many engineers, how many mobile phones, how many badges, etc...
This is based on the "resource" perspective, you can sort out the resource table:
05 Decision tree analysis
Decision tree analysis is a graphical method for describing the decision under consideration and the possible consequences of adopting this or that existing option.
The main thing is to synthesize the probability and cost of each available option, as well as the benefits on each logical path of time.
After the benefits and decisions are quantified, the expected monetary value (EMV) of each solution can be obtained, and then comparison and selection can be made based on this value.
After learning decision tree analysis, you don't have to worry about your "difficulty in choosing" anymore!
The above five structured thinking tools are all "one-dimensional" one-way, and then there are three "two-dimensional" tools:
06 Priority Matrix
Let’s start with the more familiar and simpler ones. The priority matrix is very similar to the time management "four quadrant" matrix we often see.
It is to divide the work according to the two different degrees of importance and urgency, and divide them into four categories, ABCD, to form a priority matrix.
Do you often find that the plans written in the morning are not done at night, and you are obviously busy all day, but in the end you don’t know what you are busy with?
That's because you don't know how to prioritize and feel that everything is important. Interruptions are inevitable, and what we can do is schedule them.
The priority matrix is a way to help you find the priority problems/priority measures.
07 SWOT analysis
SOWT analysis I remember that we should have learned it in college, and I especially like to use it when writing papers. Don't tell me you haven't seen it.
What is its concept?
SWOT analysis method (situation analysis method): List various main internal advantages, disadvantages and external opportunities and threats closely related to the research object through investigation, and arrange them in matrix form; then use the idea of system analysis to put Various factors are matched with each other for analysis, and a series of corresponding conclusions are drawn from them, and the conclusions usually have a certain degree of decision-making.
This is also a tool method to help decision-making, allowing you to have a comprehensive, systematic and accurate understanding and grasp of the situation of the problem itself, so as to formulate scientific strategic decisions.
It is often seen in some project plans.
08 Power/Interest Square
I love this checkered pattern.
For project managers, stakeholder management is the most troublesome task and accounts for the largest proportion. How you deal with the relationship between stakeholders is very important. This tool can help you quickly find out how to deal with it.
In addition to the project manager, in fact, everyone has to deal with many related parties, such as colleagues, leaders, customers, etc. If they ask you to do something at the same time, which one do you deal with first?
At this time, the "Power and Interest Grid" will be very helpful to you.
According to this grid, you can clearly know: Who should be the focus of management? What does anyone need to do to satisfy him? Who just needs supervision? Who needs to report progress in real time? Is it a table to get it done? It's clear at a glance!
In fact, the structured thinking tools mentioned in "PMBOK" are more than these. Friends in need can find them to read by themselves, or they can receive e-books in Laoyuan WeChat privately.
3. Write at the end
There is also a book called "Structural Thinking".
The author wrote in the book: "If the way of thinking is mature, we will inevitably become wise, comprehensive, and easy to make the right choice. If the way of thinking is disorganized and has no structure, we will inevitably look at things one-sided, limited, and logical. Chaos, thus looping in failure."
Mastering structured thinking is not only to help us perform and express better, but more importantly, it can help us analyze and solve problems.
It is also very important to find the method and tools to use, which can give you a basis for training your structured thinking.
When we encounter complex problems, learn to analyze the problem, find out the essence, delete irrelevant information, and simplify it. I believe that your life and work will be more efficient and high-quality.
The tools and thinking have been shared with everyone, and the next thing to do is to practice deliberately.
The full text is over, I am Lao Yuan, I hope this article can inspire you.
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I am Lao Yuan, welcome to follow my official account [Project Manager Lao Yuan], every day there will be dry goods sharing of project management cases .