Tom Spencer

DECEMBER 5, 2020

It is a classic case interview question, in which a candidate is asked to make an estimate. A market sizing question literally asks a candidate to estimate the volume or the value of a something. You would start by estimating the population of France, then figure out how many people cycle etc etc.

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PM Alliance

APRIL 28, 2023

As teams work to balance all these factors and develop budget forecasts, they also need to acknowledge there could be a lot of unknowns lurking in their cost estimates. The result could be more estimates with unflagged “contingency” dollars as a hedge against anticipated cuts. The result?

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Data Energy Management Development 79

CaseInterview.com

MAY 19, 2021

Here’s a list of Case Interview Questions that I’ve received as a candidate. They want you to estimate the market demand for cell phones over the next 30 years and tell them if there is a market for this invention (and prove it) – Bain Case. – McKinsey Case. – McKinsey Case. Your client is Motorola.

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Case Interview Oliver Wyman Interviews Examples 98

Tom Spencer

NOVEMBER 12, 2021

Consider using the following four step approach: Estimate your current level. Define the questions to ask yourself and others. Estimate your current level on the ladder. The good news is you can progress through the first stage rather quickly by asking the right questions. Define the questions to ask yourself and others.

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Successful Independent Consulting

APRIL 2, 2018

Dear Liz, I have a quick question. Louis Although the question is brief, a helpful answer is not. Geography — Consultants in New York and San Francisco get paid more than consultants in Cincinnati or Boise, by some estimates up to 25% more. I've nicknamed this the “2x 3x Estimate.” Can you ballpark this for me?

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Consulting How To Marketing Deloitte 199

Johanna Rothman

JANUARY 26, 2021

A senior manager, SM, receives an estimate the SM doesn't like. SM asks a “lower” (on-the-hierarchy) manager/leader, LM, to change the estimate. I can't change the estimate for the team. ” (Take a look at the boundaries, drivers, and constraints series for more details on these questions.

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Johanna Rothman

AUGUST 4, 2020

One eagle-eyed fellow asked me this question, “How long was the time from T0 to T1?” I still see so many teams spend weeks at a time estimating projects they won't start for years. Or, that someone is supposed to estimate ROI when no one has done any small experiments to see if anyone would buy/use this product/feature.

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Successful Independent Consulting

FEBRUARY 12, 2021

Taxes – Being self-employed means making estimated tax payments four times a year. A lot of consulting boils down to contracting effectively (clarifying scope and estimated effort), managing expectations, and being an exceptional listener. Reflect on these questions: How healthy is your network? Do you have a safety net?

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David A Fields

AUGUST 17, 2015

A consultant asked me the following question: I am working with a prospect and as part of the Context Discussion, we agreed on the risk adjusted value of a project. Do I estimate the number of days and multiply by a daily rate? Now, how do I go about establishing a fair price for the project? Do I charge 10% of the value?

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David A Fields

JUNE 18, 2014

A question I was asked… I sent an email to a contact I found on LinkedIn. My note outlined what I could do for them and gave them some estimated fees. Is that a good approach? Should I have done this?…See …See my Response in the Solo Consultant’s Network. relationships starting projects'

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Successful Independent Consulting

JULY 16, 2019

Once accepted, you will have to complete questions from the client to see if you have the requisite experience. The GLG platform has a rate estimator you can use, but it’s a bit flimsy since it’s only based on one data point. From there, you can accept or decline an inquiry. Do I set my own rates?

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Johanna Rothman

OCTOBER 31, 2023

Several of my trusted advisor clients have asked this question, “Why do I need to choose between effectiveness and efficiency? ” A great question. Worse, if people have to estimate future work, they will be wrong. Managers can use that question, too. Why can't I have both?” That's not efficient. (Or

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Efficiency Management How To Consulting 103

Epicflow

JULY 5, 2022

Estimation of project cost is one of the core practices of the project initiation stage, which becomes the basis for the approved project budget. Therefore, a proper cost estimation is about finding a fine line in this complex process. What helps make cost estimation simple and efficient? How to estimate project cost .

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Management Consulting Prep

MARCH 5, 2020

Estimation question & market sizing in case interview. The post Estimation example & tips with mental math appeared first on Management Consulting Prep.

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CaseInterview.com

MAY 31, 2022

One of the questions I get a lot from newer managers is: “How do I manage someone who is older and more experienced, knowledgeable, and talented than I am?” The people asking this question typically feel awkward managing someone who, by many measures, is more competent in a particular area.

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David A Fields

APRIL 10, 2015

A consultant asked me the following question: During a previous Q&A you mentioned that you only presented 30% of the total, quantitative benefit in your proposal because it was a strategic project. Why do you reduce the estimated value of project when you’re talking to a client, and where do you come up with the percentages?

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Johanna Rothman

MARCH 26, 2024

The more people estimate from the bottom up, the more they pad their estimates to account for unknowns. Ask yourself this question: What is the most valuable thing we can learn and how fast can we learn that? Instead, the question about the most valuable thing often prompts the team to create deliverables, not tasks.

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Granite Leadership Strategies

MARCH 22, 2023

This data is a key enabler to credible bases of estimates and proof of cost reasonableness. The data helps the pricing team to answer basic pricing questions such as: How many hours does it take? It also serves as important sanity checks during pricing and cost estimate reviews. What is the overall average labor rate?

Government 52

Government Strategy& Strategy Strategy 52

Tom Spencer

OCTOBER 6, 2023

In this 2-part series, we will address these questions. Firstly, by outlining the major items on a bank’s income statement, and then by discussing key ratios that are commonly used to measure profitability and to estimate the market value for banks. Where does this money ultimately go? What is a bank really worth?

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Epicflow

MARCH 22, 2023

But its effectiveness is highly questionable – organizations that reduce the number of employees have only 11% of probability to achieve high performance after the crisis. So, despite the fact that cost-cutting measures help companies save money, they are ineffective in the long run. What causes excessive expenses in project management?

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Johanna Rothman

MARCH 21, 2024

Here's a quick tip: Never do a standup with the old three questions. See Shorten Team Feedback Loops with These Three Questions to Increase Throughput for some ideas. Never use story point estimation or measure velocity, because they actively remove value from what managers need to know. Instead, walk the board. Limit your WIP.

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Epicflow

MARCH 22, 2024

Any project management area isn’t immune to risks, whether it’s the planning and estimating stage, the process of project execution, or communication within a team, between groups, and with stakeholders. It’s also important to understand that there are project management risks and industry-related risks.

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Women in Consulting

APRIL 23, 2018

However, conversations invariably turn to that sticky question…“So, what’s your hourly fee?”. A gracefully phrased, “Let’s focus on your real question.”. What clients really want to know is an estimate of total project costs and value. The best answer? In my experience, clients are not actually asking for my hourly rate.

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Media Comparison Nonprofit Education 88

Progressus

NOVEMBER 10, 2023

The Power of Unity Firms need real-time insights into the entire business – finance, project accounting, sales, everything – otherwise multiple versions of the truth will start showing up in budgets, estimates, and forecasts. Bad data, in turn, leads to inaccurate timelines, estimates, budgets. Are forecasts/estimates/budgets accurate?

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Johanna Rothman

JULY 23, 2020

Consider these ideas that might help: Stop estimating anything and calculate cycle time. Stop Estimating and Use Cycle Time. Stop Estimating and Use Cycle Time. Clare was convinced her team didn't estimate well. They dutifully estimated in story points each iteration. Experiment with collaboration to reduce WIP.

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CaseInterview.com

MARCH 7, 2019

Here's a list of Case Interview Questions that I've received as a candidate. They want you to estimate the market demand for cell phones over the next 30 years and tell them if there is a market for this invention (and prove it) - Bain Case. McKinsey Case. Your client is a $300 million a year copper mining company. McKinsey Case.

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Case Interview Oliver Wyman Interviews Examples 75

Johanna Rothman

FEBRUARY 6, 2024

You're not going to estimate anything, because if you knew how long it would take, you would have done it already. See a quick explanation at Using Behavior-Description Questions as a Starting Point. Then, as I ask more questions, I remind people to write down their answer to each question.

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Johanna Rothman

FEBRUARY 25, 2019

In the past, they've asked for estimates and costs—by requirement—and then tracked the variance for those estimates and costs. They only record estimates and actuals. The people in projects and programs spend a lot of time to create those estimates. Worse, the estimate generation effort has an invisible cost.

Agile 68

Agile Software Government Productivity 68

Johanna Rothman

AUGUST 28, 2019

And, too often, the more traditional planning sometimes encourages estimating “all” of it, at too low a level. You can keep two sets of “books” as I described above with the best estimates you have now and continue to update both sets of plans. Or, you might ask a different question. Placate the Manager.

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Data Agile Culture Management 68

Kai Davis

MAY 24, 2021

price estimates) during an initial conversation with a prospect. That means before you share a price, you want to make sure you have answers to these questions: Where do they need help? Because until you have a solid understanding of those elements, you don’t have enough information to estimate (e.g., I told that them I do not.

Consulting 52

Consulting 52

Tom Spencer

FEBRUARY 25, 2022

Here are some questions to ask yourself during the planning phase: What is the deliverable going to look like? Who can I go to for help if I have questions? To help you work more efficiently and effectively try to: Estimate the amount of time it will take to complete a segment of work.

How To 88

How To Efficiency Tools Industry 88

CaseInterview.com

NOVEMBER 26, 2019

But the most interesting portion of the evening was an optional question and answer session they had with a number of the athletes before the show. A number of questions came up, the answers of which I thought were very interesting. By the way, if it did not occur to you to do a reasonableness test on my estimate, it should.

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The Consultants Peer Group

DECEMBER 18, 2023

An estimated two million folks consult in the U.S. today in an estimated one million firms; separating yourself from these others must include how you consult – the professionalism you stand for. Much too open-ended for me. I simply say, “I don’t do proposals.” Sacrilegious?

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Ethics Intellectual Property Consulting ROI 52

Tom Spencer

JUNE 15, 2015

A guesstimate question can be approached by breaking a question down into smaller pieces by asking the interviewer questions and making a series of narrowing assumptions. You can break a question down either by starting big (e.g. (Source: Flickr ). making an assumption about the total population) or starting small (e.g.

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CaseInterview.com

MARCH 30, 2020

I’m going to give you two answers to that question. The question then becomes what to do and when. The Federal Reserve, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs estimate that monthly GDP has declined 30%-50% due to the economic shutdown with unemployment likely around 30%. So, who is right? The root cause is clear. US GDP was $21.44

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Financial Energy Real Estate Government 145

PM Alliance

SEPTEMBER 1, 2023

You’ll need to develop highly accurate task duration estimates and ensure task handoffs are as efficient as possible. Establish robust communication channels and distribute a contact list to stakeholders at the initiative’s outset, so everyone knows who to reach out to for questions and how to raise flags around priority issues.

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PM Alliance

JANUARY 6, 2023

Pose some targeted questions to gather information you can use to further improve your project performance and fine tune your planning, execution, and closeout skills. Were questions addressed quickly? If estimates were wildly off the mark, find out why. Ask vendors how well communications were handled.

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