iplot.co.jp ／ LECTURE COLLECTION ／ LECTURESVOL. I ─ 2026

IT Consulting Guidebook

Practical Knowledge,Codified

Drawn from the full curriculum actually used in our in-house training, the essentials that work on the frontline written up as paper-style articles. The downloadable edition — complete with explanations, exercises, and grading rubrics — drops straight into your own internal training.

LECTURES READY: 18lectures
PHASES COVERED: 0-7Ph
PDF MATERIALS: 80+files

§01 ─ THESIS

Why a lecture collection?

On the frontline of IT and AI development, there is know-how only the veterans hold. Unless you convert it into a readable form, the organization stays person-dependent and keeps repeating the same firefighting. This guidebook exists to systematize the frontline's tacit knowledge and deliver it as argument you can actually implement.

ICODIFICATION

Turning tacit knowledge into structured argument

We systematize the veteran's intuition and experience into 18 lectures spanning Ph.0 through Ph.7. Each lecture is a self-contained, paper-style article complete with explanation, exercises, and a grading rubric.

IIEXECUTABLE

Not just reading — built to reach implementation

Slides, cheat sheets, exercises, answer keys, a 90-minute practical test, and grading rubrics are all included. Designed as working material you can drop straight into in-house training.

IIIFULL SPECTRUM

End-to-end, from concept to project management

IR reading, forecasting operations from data, discovery, issue trees, TO-BE design, meeting materials, requirements definition, PM. Covering every phase of taking AI adoption and DX from 0 to 1.

§02 ─ FOUNDATION

Foundational Thinking

The thinking templates that underpin consulting and system design. With the four pillars of bird's-eye view, analysis, ideation, and hypothesis, train the very power to think.

│ Supplementary course

Bird's-Eye Thinking

Exhaust the combinations of conditions

A "thinking method that exhausts the combinations of conditions," usable in every setting — operational design, system design, decision-making. Internalize the template with three worked examples (operations / CRUD / status transitions).

READ ARTICLE⟶

│ Supplementary course

Analytical Skill

A toolbox of analysis for decision-making

Based on Masatake Ushiro's "The Technique of Analysis for Decision-Making." Use the five frames — 80/20, sensitivity analysis, MECE comparison, gap analysis, and process-leak analysis — across Ph.1 / Ph.3 / Ph.4.

READ ARTICLE⟶

│ Supplementary course

Ideation Skill

An ideation drill for when you're stuck on TO-BE design

Based on Kenichi Ohmae's "Ideation Power: 15 Ways to Create 0 to 1." Use the six ideation methods — SDF, idle economy, time-axis shifting, RTOCS, lateral expansion, and fixed-cost contribution — when you're stuck on TO-BE workflow design.

READ ARTICLE⟶

│ Supplementary course

Hypothesis Thinking

Set a "tentative answer" before gathering information, then evolve it through verification

Master the thinking skill of setting a "tentative answer" before over-gathering information and evolving it through verification. A foundational skill that activates in every setting from Ph.0 to Ph.7.

READ ARTICLE⟶

§03 ─ CONSULTING

Consulting Skills

From reading IR materials to project management, the practical consulting skills that take AI-adoption and DX projects from 0 to 1.

│ Ph.0 Vision & Background

IR-Driven Business Issues

Build hypotheses about business issues from IR materials

A hands-on course where you discover the operational structure and department-level issues of a fictional company, "Azika Foods," on your own — using its IR briefing materials. Build the habit of asking "why?" from the way the numbers move.

READ ARTICLE⟶

│ Ph.1 Current State (Data)

Inferring Operations from Data

Hypothesize an AS-IS business workflow from CSV data

Starting from nothing but CSV data and forms, use Claude Code to hypothesize an AS-IS business workflow. A hands-on course aimed at locking down the AI-adoption scope and sharing assumptions before discovery.

READ ARTICLE⟶

│ Standalone course

AS-IS Business Workflow

A general-purpose guide to writing business workflows

A general-purpose course that systematizes the purpose, format, and notation of writing AS-IS business workflows. Using the flow of "goods, information, money" and a bird's-eye map on status × CRUD axes, surface every essential point of requirements definition without omission.

READ ARTICLE⟶

│ Ph.2 Discovery at Project Start

Discovery at Project Start

Line up all three: AS-IS / TO-BE / GAP

Discovery isn't "the task of listening" — it's the task of lining up all three: AS-IS (current state), TO-BE (target state), and GAP (the difference = the issue). It covers the technique of nailing down all three regardless of which of the two request patterns (A: TO-BE first / B: issue first) the client starts with, and how to land it all in an issue list (Excel).

READ ARTICLE⟶

│ Ph.3 Structuring the Issues

Issue Tree

Structure issues with point decomposition + hypothesis testing

The skill of not leaving issues as a flat list after discovery, but structuring them all the way down to root causes with an issue tree. Following the book "The Complete Book of Strategic Thinking," learn to use it distinctly from related logic trees such as the Why tree.

READ ARTICLE⟶

│ Ph.4 TO-BE Workflow Design

TO-BE Workflow Design

Draw the future operations where the issues are resolved

A hands-on course where, based on the root causes identified in Ph.3, you concretely draw the business workflow with the issues resolved (TO-BE) and define the solution and scope.

READ ARTICLE⟶

│ Ph.5 Proposal & Consensus-Building

Creating Meeting Materials

Ch.1 OPQ, pyramid, writing / Ch.2 designing meetings that surface points

Ch.1 covers the technique of writing as an individual (OPQ analysis → pyramid structure → writing), and Ch.2 covers how to assemble materials used in meetings (designing meetings that surface points). The shared core is "the other party's perspective."

READ ARTICLE⟶

│ Ph.7 Driving & Execution Management

Project Management

WBS, issue log, stakeholders, recurring meetings

Using Azika Foods' purchase-order automation project as material, learn the four pillars of WBS, issue log, stakeholder management, and recurring reporting. Comes with a catalog of countermeasure patterns by problem type and a PM mindset appendix.

READ ARTICLE⟶

│ Supplementary course

How to Make Slides

Slide-creation technique for presentations

The technique of creating presentation slides. Systematize the structure, color scheme, typography, and diagrams that keep readers from getting lost.

│ Supplementary course

Client Work

Skills for driving engagements and building relationships

Skills for driving engagements and building relationships with clients. A catalog of patterns for expectation management, trust-building, and breaking through tough situations.

│ Supplementary course

How to Estimate

Create a state where the customer can choose: line items, good/better/best, alignment

Estimating isn't "the task of producing a number" — it's the task of creating a state where the customer can choose. Break line items into ¥200K–1M units, hand over the right to choose with good/better/best three options, and cycle through aligning and re-estimating as an iterative procedure.

READ ARTICLE⟶

§04 ─ SYSTEM DESIGN

System Design Skills

Requirements definition, data-structure design, verification, AI use — the design skills for not "building and being done" but "keeping the system running."

│ Ph.6 Requirements Definition

Requirements Definition for Field Rollout

Balancing vendor communication with field rollout

Covers Ch.1 "the technique of conveying accurately to the vendor" (functional requirements, non-functional requirements, use cases, RFP) and Ch.2 "requirements definition for field rollout" (CRUD diagrams, status transitions, operable periods, ROI phasing, AI non-functional requirements).

READ ARTICLE⟶

│ Standalone course

AI and Optimization

Choosing algorithms for AI-enabling operations

Organize LLMs, supervised/unsupervised machine learning, Bayesian optimization, linear/integer programming, network flow, and rule-based approaches by INPUT/OUTPUT, runtime, and concrete examples. Build the criteria for "which to use for what."

READ ARTICLE⟶

│ Separate-track curriculum

AI Product Development Curriculum

ChatGPT API, embeddings, RAG

A technical-skill course that, with the final goal of "being able to build a system that combines internal information with AI (RAG) yourself," builds up step by step from the basics of the API to embeddings and Transformers.

READ ARTICLE⟶

│ System Design

Status Management and Table Splitting

Design the "state" and "data structure" of a business system

The basics of "status management" and "table splitting" that you'll always need to run a business system. Learn by pattern how to design the operational states that tend to become person-dependent as columns, tables, and transitions.

READ ARTICLE⟶

│ System Design

Intro to Verifying What You Built

The technique of "checking for yourself" the system you built

Reach a state where you can check for yourself whether the system you had AI build really works. Even without specialized testing knowledge, internalize a verification template that lets you judge "it's OK if this works" for operations.

READ ARTICLE⟶

§∞ ─ COLOPHON

Slides, exercises,
answer keys and tests —all published online.

Each article is the publishable essence. The actual slide decks, cheat sheets, exercises, answer keys, practical tests, and Excel handouts in use can be viewed and downloaded from the learning site after requesting an account.

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