昨日午饭后翻起《麦肯锡方法》，本以为是艰深巨制，结果发现是本有趣的小册子。它的第四、第五章内容对商业、咨询业以外的人同样很有启迪。

 

“在太阳底下没有任何新鲜的东西。不管你做什么，别人在以前都已经做过——把做过的那个人找出来。”
看到这句话的第一时刻，我就联想到文献检索。科学技术日新月异，但是划时代的进步并不多，我们很多工作都是在前人基础上的改进。面对新课题时，先在脑海里面搜寻线索，这就已经开始了信息检索；进一步，我们可以利用提取出来的关键词到许多优秀的文献数据库中去检索资料。虽然检索结果不能每每切中要害，但至少在一定程度上会开拓思路，甚至直接给出答案——如果错过这种好运的话，就等着耗费无谓的时间与精力吧。也许，你会说同样的答案或许能用不同的方法来获得。我不能否认这样做的确具有一定的方法学意义，但是这种独辟蹊径的路程一般都缺乏效率。毕竟，我们的工作是要为社会创造价值，而不是单纯的自我修炼。

 

“我总是问同样的案例。我并不是要找特别的答案，但我想看一看，人们是如何处理复杂问题的，在这种情况下，许多信息一下就从他们那里得出来了。有些人僵在了那里，而另一些人却越挖越深。而后者正是我要推荐的人。”
依然从文献检索说开去。文献检索与分析在预研阶段十分必要，但更科学的做法是，文献检索应该始于问题的形成阶段，而不是问题形成以后开始寻找解答的阶段。这样的做法赋予我们的项目更多意义；同时这样还可以避免文献检索的一个副作用——依赖心理。学习的老师是模仿，创造不是——创造要求我们怀疑一切、敢想敢为。积累很多知识的人，一定不会“僵在那里”；但只有真正理解消化的人才能不断深入，恭候“牛顿的苹果”。

 

“执行和实施是关键。……让方案实施是最重要的事情。”
没什么好说的了。Words are useless, action takes the power.

Mihir Bellare
Department of Computer Science & Engineering
University of California at San Diego

 

The Ph.D experience is about much more than learning to do deep work in some technical area. Here are some of the more general things I expect you to get.

You should get a sense of confidence in the power of rational thought and the range of its applicability. Everything in life is a problem of some sort of the other. How often do we think about it that way, and approach methodically the job of solving it? After a Ph.D you should have the inclination and ability to research anything, whether it be mortgages, biology, cooking or Toyota engines, and the expectation that you will understand it.

You should get the confidence and inclination to question all that is around you and seek out new ways of doing it or seeing it. You should be more likely to ask why things are done a certain why, and how it could be made better.

A Ph. D should give you the confidence that you can jump into a new area, pick it up quickly, and have something interesting to say about it, even if other people have looked at this area for a long time. More than depth in any one area it should give you the courage to jump from area to area.

You might increase your appreciation for creativity, in other people and in all areas of life. You might view art differently, or think differently about music you hear, more appreciative of what it took to do this and how it departed from the previous works. You should learn to value creativity and seek it out.

It will install a sense of taste and a critical sense. It should make you unwilling to accept the common standards and norms, and to put them to the test of your own intellect and opinions. You should naturally find yourself questioning things. You should be willing to contradict conventional widsom. That doesn't mean being a rebel just for the sake of it; you are too mature for that. It just means being constructively critical.