There was a lot of reaction to Hugh’s 100 Suits question. Looking back, it centred around optimising the business. I’d thrown in comments here and there as the discussion progressed, largely designed to get a better picture of what’s really going on. The problem was that I never (and I suspect most accountants who read this would feel the same way) had a sense of the entire picture from the financial perspective. That’s fair enough as no-one would expect a business person to publish their business plan over the internet. Now it seems, English Cut is looking very seriously at scaling back the core business – Hugh’s main idea in the original post. It’s a brave move from this distance but it may be entirely logical in the context of the bespoke tailoring business. Which brings me to the central problem of delivering useful advice:
- It’s almost impossible to answer one question without begging another. I’m not talking cause and effect but total impact.
- Apparently simple answers to one question may have a knock on effect to other parts of the business that need factoring in.
- This medium lends itself to general answers but not necessarily to specifics – you’ve got to understand the client in far greater detail. It’s about context.
Nevertheless, I learned some interesting lessons:
- Notice how marketing gets really gung-ho about ideas but doesn’t necessarily see execution impact? How do ‘we’ communicate with those guys without ticking them off?
- Drip feed information wastes time. I’d much rather have had more facts at my disposal – even if those were examples.
- What could have been done different that would have added value to the discussion? I like the idea of WikiCalc – if I’d put a model up there, then it could have been a great experiment in collaborative ad hoc business planning. A missed opportunity. Next time. Next time.
Technorati Tags: innovation, wikicalc
