To be honest, I was completely useless at this until I joined a consulting firm.
Even when handed a theme outside my expertise, I didn't know how to research it or where to start. I thought that was normal. So, I was taken aback when I saw everyone at the firm handling such tasks with ease. The situation of "I can't move because it's outside my expertise" almost never happened.
For example, themes like these would drop normally:
- In the logistics industry's "2024 problem," where should we break the structure where the burden is concentrated on the layer with the weakest freight rate negotiation power among shippers, primary contractors, and subcontractors?
- As offshore wind power moves from floating demonstration to commercialization, in what order should we resolve the three-way deadlock of fishing rights holders, local governments, and grid connection capacity?
- Parallel to the core system renewal of a regional bank, how should branch networks and personnel be redistributed after a merger as the main bank function hollows out due to the generational change of depositors?
- In reducing food loss for food manufacturers, how do we untangle the coordination problem where the "one-third rule" among manufacturing, wholesale, and retail distorts supply and demand forecasts, and moving alone only results in bearing inventory risk?
These were not continuous with my expertise at all. Yet, once assigned, something would be moving forward by the following week. At first, I wondered how they could perform such a feat.
Once you get used to it, this is an incredibly useful skill. You can move things along even if it's outside your expertise. You start to look like someone who can do anything. (In reality, there are many things I can't do.)
To reveal the secret, there are only 4 steps. It's so obvious it might be disappointing, and you'll likely think "I know that" when you read it. The real trouble is the fact that most people stop even if they know it.
How to proceed when you don't know how to proceed
STEP 1 | Verbalize what you don't know
Saying "I don't know anything" is a sign of stopped thinking.
In reality, it's rare that you don't know everything. Is the purpose unclear? The scope? The procedure? The content of the "unknown" can always be decomposed.
First, cut out "what is unknown" into items. Vague anxiety maintains its size as long as you hold onto it. The moment you verbalize it into items, anxiety turns into "tasks that just need to be filled."
STEP 2 | Hypothesize within the range of what you know
Don't wait for all the information to be gathered.
Place a tentative answer like "It's probably like this" using only the materials at hand. Draw a picture of the current situation and the desired state for now. If you wait for all premises to be perfectly aligned, you will never start.
However, your hands will stop quickly if it's only in your head. This is because there are too many unknowns to even form a hypothesis. Don't stop; go out and test your assumptions everywhere. As shown in the figure below, if you increase your repertoire of how to research and ask, you won't get stuck here.
Methods for researching and asking are roughly divided into four directions. The trick is to combine them rather than leaning on just one.
1. Borrow people and knowledge
- Ask internal experts or knowledgeable people (go with a hypothesis)
- Brainstorm with your boss
- Confirm directly with the customer
- Consult with external experts or advisors
- Search internal knowledge or past documents
(Regarding 1, be careful: you are the lead. "Dumping it on others and waiting for instructions" is completely different.)
2. Hit information sources
- Research with AI tools (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, etc.)
- Read industry reports
- Check government and statistical data
- Look for practitioner posts on specialized media or SNS
- Refer to specialized books, papers, and library collections
3. Capture primary information
- Visit the client's site and observe
- Set up interviews with users or personnel in charge
- Actually try out competitor services
- Participate in industry events and exhibitions
4. Think structurally
- Organize by applying frameworks
- Decompose issues with a logic tree
- Infer by comparing with similar cases or past projects
Researching with AI, brainstorming with a boss, and visiting the site are all the same "movement to fill in the hypothesis."
STEP 3 | Move yourself starting from the hypothesis
The key is not to get an answer, but to go and verify the hypothesis.
Change "How should I move?" to "It's probably like this, so I will move like this. Please let me confirm just this part." The former is waiting for instructions; the latter is verification. The way it's received is completely different.
You don't need to carry everything yourself either. Use AI or desk research, or follow a lead to a knowledgeable person through your boss's connections. The movement of "going to get" information itself is this step.
STEP 4 | Improve accuracy while moving
Don't wait for perfection; move small and fix. Action brings the next piece of information.
A rough draft is fine at first. If you put it out, the other party will return the difference, saying "this part is wrong" or "this part is right." If you fill that difference, the accuracy will improve on its own.
As you proceed, some information will inevitably be unobtainable. In that case, decide on a way to proceed without it and course-correct. Make judgments like, "Since there is no data for the same scale in manufacturing, we will substitute by emphasizing the banking industry, which has a similar structure." Instead of stopping, switch to another route.
Applying to specific scenes
Since abstract theory is hard to grasp, let's look at a common situation.
"At the end of a meeting, you were told to look up examples from other companies by next week."
Good example / Bad example
The bad example is this: You stop because you don't know what to do. You start researching aimlessly. You feel at a loss. You stay stopped and eventually get scolded.
The good example starts by writing down "what you don't know." Is it the purpose of the document, the scope of the investigation, the procedure, or the structure? From there, hypothesize the range of what you know. "If the goal is cost reduction, they probably want to know the measures, not just the examples." "They seem interested in other industries, not just the same industry."
Then, go get it yourself, and if unobtainable information appears, course-correct. Even for the same request, the difference in whether you can proceed is not ability, but whether you followed this sequence.
The difficulty is not knowledge, but the initial movement
Reading this far, you probably thought, "That's obvious now that you mention it." That's exactly right; there is nothing new in the 4 steps themselves. Still, the reason many people stop is that the place they stumble is not in the layer of knowledge.
The reasons are roughly three.
First.
"Unknowns" come as one big lump at first. Tasks after decomposition are small, but the lump before splitting looks huge. That's why many people stop before entering STEP 1. It's not that they don't know; they are losing to the weight of the lump before splitting it.
Second.
Cases where people think "it's correct to move after understanding." Gathering information before making a judgment looks like a sincere and cautious attitude. Therefore, "waiting" is justified. The 4 steps reverse this order. Move, then understand. Since it's about overwriting the initial setting you believed was correct, your waist is heavy even if you know it.
Third.
Each step has a trap of "knowing but not doing." You can't commit to a hypothesis because you're afraid of being wrong. You can't start a question because you're afraid your ignorance will be exposed if you ask without a hypothesis. You hold onto a draft until it's perfect because you don't want to show something unfinished. None of these are problems of ability, but problems of fear.
Conversely, you don't need talent to overcome this. Split the lump, place it without waiting, and put it out unfinished. Just by getting a little used to these three, the time you spend stopped will almost disappear.
Stopping at an unknown theme is not because you "don't know." It's because you haven't split the unknown thing yet. Specialized knowledge will follow later as you rotate the 4 steps. This is the "way to enter the unknown" that works even if the industry changes.
Next time your hands stop, just remember this sequence.
- Verbalize what you don't know (cut out what is unknown into items)
- Hypothesize within the range of what you know (place "It's probably like this")
- Move yourself starting from the hypothesis (don't get an answer, go verify)
- Improve accuracy while moving (put out a draft and fill the difference)
On top of that, think of one project you are currently stuck on. For that one case, write down just three things for STEP 1: "what you don't know." That is the smallest and most certain first step.
If you can't write three things well, that's a sign the lump is still too big. In that case, please open this article again.
