The McKinsey 7S Framework is a management tool invented by business consultants Robert Waterman, Jr. and Tom Peters. It is a useful tool for analyzing a company. We have included this tool here because we think it can also be quite useful for planning some perersonal project.
The diagram above provides a list of issues we need to consider in order to achieve our goals:
- Strategy: What is the plan and timeline? What do we need to do or achieve at different stages?
- Structure: This is more about the organizational structure of the company, such as how employees should be grouped together to achieve the goals. So if you have a team of people, this is about who is in charge and who is responsible for what.
- Systems: What kind of resources do you need? Money? Hardware? What kind of working habits should you adopt? Which tools would improve your productivity when you work on this project?
- Staff: Is there anyone who can help you? Who has done this before and can give you some advice?
- Style: If you will end up with a product that you hope other people will use, e.g. a book, a new design, etc, how are you going to promote it? What about the presentation and publicity efforts? How do you maximize the impact of your ideas?
- Skills: Do you have the knowledge required to achieve your goals? What else do you need to learn? Is there a weak spot and do you need to do something about it?