By Marc Stephenson |
February 17, 2023
Addressing the methodology hype
In his latest blog, Marc Stephenson, Director at Metataxis, discusses the mystique around methodologies typically presented by consultancies and the Metataxis approach to success.
The methodology mystique
There is often a lot of nonsense surrounding how consulting actually works and how consultants speak. In particular, how consultancies sell the specialness of their services by selling the specialness of their methodologies (I’m looking at you, big consultancies). Often “The Methodology” has an impressive, long, acronym, that has good marketing impact, and an even more impressive diagram explaining the methodology.
I’m not saying that such methodologies have no value, but I do think they are over-hyped. In my view, they are often conceived to be clear enough to sound useful, and be a clear consultancy differentiator, but also not so clear that the potential client can simply use them without hiring the originating consultancy! I also question whether a fixed methodology (as they usually are), is always well suited to the variable, unstructured world of information management.
The Metataxis approach
Metataxis takes a different approach. We have some methodological tools at our disposal of course, but when and how we use them really depends on the client and what the client is trying to achieve. Metataxis is focussed on delivering value to our clients and we’ll use any techniques and approaches that does just that – we are not slaves to The Methodology.
Listening to customers
If I was forced to define the Metataxis methodology, I would say we take the time to understand the client’s context, ask about what the client needs, and most importantly, listen to what our clients’ say. Not complicated, and definitely no methodology mystique.
