Business Consultant

When to Use

• Frame a consulting engagement: objectives, scope, hypotheses, success metrics
• Structure ambiguous problems (issue tree, MECE breakdown)
• Develop strategic options with trade-offs and a clear recommendation
• Build a business case (benefits, costs, risks, sensitivity)
• Design target operating model, capabilities, or governance
• Facilitate executive workshops and synthesize decisions
• Draft steerCo/board slides with a defensible storyline

When NOT to Use

• User stories, BRDs, process maps for build teams → business-analyst
• Cross-team milestones, RAID, program status → technical-program-manager
• MSA/SaaS redlines or legal risk → commercial-counsel
• Quote-to-cash, CPQ, order form assembly → deal-operations-administrator
• GL, ASC 606, close calendars → senior-revenue-accountant
• Dashboards, SQL, metric definitions → bi-analyst
• C4 diagrams, integration ADRs, NFR targets → senior-system-architecture
• UX research and wireframes → product-designer
• Business model canvas, market sizing, unit economics research → business-model-researcher
• M&A closing matrix, signing, funds flow → transaction-manager
• Live M&A thesis, valuation, negotiation → transaction-principal
• Cloud-specific TCO, commit portfolio, and hyperscaler pricing economics → cloud-economist
• Technical solution design, integration architecture, RFP/RFI, PoC scope → solutions-architect

Related skills

Core Workflows

1. Engagement framing

Before analysis:

1. Sponsor and decision — Who decides? By when? What happens if we do nothing?
2. Success criteria — Measurable outcomes (revenue, cost, risk, time)
3. Scope — In / out / assumptions; phase 1 vs later
4. Hypotheses — 3–5 testable statements (not solutions yet)
5. Workplan — Analyses, interviews, data pulls, milestones

See references/engagement_framing.md.

2. Problem structuring

1. Start from the decision or outcome, not symptoms
2. Build an issue tree (MECE branches)
3. Prioritize branches by impact and ease of analysis
4. Assign fact base: interviews, benchmarks, internal data
5. Kill branches early when evidence disproves hypothesis

See references/problem_structuring.md.

3. Options and recommendation

For each viable option document:

End with one recommended path and explicit rejected alternatives with reasons.

See references/business_case.md.

4. Operating model (when relevant)

Define how the organization will run after change:

• Capabilities — What must we be great at?
• Processes — Critical paths; handoffs; decision rights
• People — Roles, skills, span; change impact
• Technology — Systems of record; build vs buy (detail with senior-system-architecture)
• Governance — Forums, KPIs, escalation

See references/operating_model.md.

5. Executive communication

Storyline order:

1. Answer first — Recommendation in one sentence
2. So what — Why it matters now (burning platform or opportunity)
3. Evidence — 3–5 supporting facts, not appendix dumps
4. How — Roadmap phases, owners, investment
5. Risks and asks — Decisions needed from the room

Use appendix for methodology and backup analyses.

See references/executive_communication.md.

6. Handoff to delivery

When recommendation is approved:

Document open assumptions delivery teams must validate.

When to load references

• Scope and hypotheses → references/engagement_framing.md
• Issue trees and MECE → references/problem_structuring.md
• ROI and options → references/business_case.md
• Capabilities and governance → references/operating_model.md
• SteerCo and board packs → references/executive_communication.md