Initiative · Applied learning
TheStratX.
A place to practise, with people who question your work.
- My role
- Founding member
- My contribution
- I helped develop how members work on projects, share drafts, and get feedback from peers and mentors.
- Current status
- Active collective
The key ideaA review should change what the team does next.
Why we started
There’s a difference between knowing a framework and using it.
I wanted more chances to use what I was learning in class. TheStratX brings together projects, case discussions, competitions, peer review, and mentorship. Members can take part in whichever activities are useful to them.
My part was helping develop the group and the ways students could work together. The example below shows the kind of discussion we want to make possible, not a completed client engagement.
A recommendation
you can question.
Sample brief: how could a student club improve attendance at its next workshop?
“Post more on Instagram.”
More posts more people attending?
Three moments.
Two different problems.
- Hear about itDid the invitation reach them?
- Sign upDid they decide to come?
- Show upWhat stopped them getting there?
The recommendation assumes awareness is the problem.
Written to illustrate the review process. This is not a past client brief, actual feedback, or a measured result.
What makes a review useful
Something on the page has to change.
A better question is useful only if it changes what the team does next.
- 01
Find the assumption.
“More posts” assumes people haven’t heard about the event. The draft needs evidence before it settles on that explanation.
- 02
Ask a narrower question.
Comparing signups with attendance helps locate the problem. It gives the team somewhere specific to investigate.
- 03
Choose the next test.
A reminder makes sense if forgetting is the problem. The recommendation should change when the evidence points elsewhere.
The collective today
Give people a reason to come back.
TheStratX is running as a consulting group led by students from several institutions.
Visit TheStratX ↗What I’m watching
Do people return for another brief? Can they explain what changed after a review? Those are the questions I would use to judge our progress.
Projects, case discussions, competitions, and mentorship offer different ways to get involved. I want useful work to continue between competitions, too.