Consultants by Richard Lowe
I like consultants, I really do. Sometimes the exact right thing
to do is to hire a consultant. They are the perfect solution
under many circumstances. If you've got a quick, well-defined
project, then by all means get on the phone and call in a
specialist. If you need a skill which you do not have on-staff,
then perhaps a consultant is just the ticket.
Just make sure you've counted the silver before they start and
after they leave.
Does that sound harsh? You bet. You see, managed correctly a
consultant is an excellent resource to help complete projects and
get special tasks completed. Improperly managed consultants often
wind up costing a small fortune and produce less-than-adequate
results.
Don't get me wrong, it's not usually the consultants fault. No,
not by a long shot. Generally consultants are reasonably honest
and try to do a good job. You can almost always trace problems
with consultants (over billing, under producing or just plain
doing the wrong thing) to a failure to properly manage and control
the project.
You see, the success or failure of a project depends upon one
variable and only one variable (baring actual criminal behavior
on the part of team members): the skill and abilities of the
project manager. If project management is weak, then the project
will almost certainly fail. The weaker the manager the more
likely the project is to go over budget, to run into unforeseen
problems and to, at the worst case, utterly fail. On the other
hand, the better a project is managed, the more likely it is to
complete on budget, on schedule and with a minimum of disruption.
Some of the rules that I follow when dealing with consultants are:
Communicate very clearly - Be sure your consultants have an
excellent understanding of what they are to accomplish. One method
that I use is to require regular meetings, and I ask my
consultants to write up the minutes as a report to me. By
reviewing these minutes, I can catch any miscommunications and
correct them before they get translated into incorrect solutions.
The purpose of having them write up the minutes is simple - they
tell me their understandings of what they heard and committed to
in the meeting.
Plan everything carefully - I like to manage projects as a
pyramid. I begin small with an initial analysis (often a proof of
concept), then expand into a larger analysis, then a design,
implementation and finally quality assurance and installation. The
reason I do this is the first phase (proof of concept and perhaps
some analysis) are done time and materials but are very short.
Once this is done, the analysis can be done with some reasonably
accurate cost estimates (just for this analysis, though). And
once that is done, the rest of the project should be fixed-price.
Validate ALL assumptions - As you work through projects, create
an assumptions document. ALL assumptions should be listed in this
document. What is an assumption? Anything which has not been
verified through actual testing, or, in other words, something
taken on faith. Every single project failure that I've seen has
been the result of an unverified assumption of one form or
another. And every single assumption is an opportunity for your
consultants (and other variables as well) to destroy your project.
Consultants are not your employees - Do not under any
circumstances treat them the same as your normal staff. The IRS
and other government agencies will get very upset if you even
think about treating them the same as your normal employee. In
addition, you will find your people will quickly come to highly
resent them (and you) if you do so.
Consultants do not get special treatment - If special requests
from consultants help them get the job done quicker and faster,
then by all means go ahead. However, consultants are generally
expected to provide their own tools (laptops and such), do not
get training on your dime, and should not receive permanent
working conditions. According to the IRS, consultants are
temporary, must supply their own materials, and must be short
term.
Consultants are there to do a job - It's best, in my experience,
to hire a consultant (or consulting group) for a specific task at
a time. You need, say, a SQL 2000 server installed and optimized,
then hire a SQL 2000 consultant to do the job. When he's finished,
let him leave. Later, when you need an Apache web server built,
then hire a consultant with Apache experience. If you need a
payroll system modified to suite your company, then hire a
consulting team for that purpose. The point is you use them to
get a job done, then let them go.
Consultants are not loyal to you or your company - Keep this in
mind at all times. A consultant has no long term commitment to
your company (if he does, then he's not a consultant, he's an
employee). Therefore, do not expect or demand long term loyalty
or thinking.
The Number 1 goal of any consultant is billing - This is probably
the most important constant of all. A consultant (and a consulting
company) lives or dies based upon billing. You can use this fact
to your mutual advantage. Do not ever assume a consultant has any
other primary goal, no matter what they say or do. They have to
eat, just like everyone else.
As a corollary to the above, consultants will naturally extend a
project - A consultant will happily work way on a project as much
and as long as allowed. You have to really manage: watch the
costs, watch the bills and don't allow anything to go uncorrected
and unexamined for any length of time. It's not that consultants
are malicious, it's just that they want to do as good a job as
they can, and they make money, lots of it, on a time and materials
project.
Always do fixed price projects - Except for short proof of
concept and analysis projects, don't ever do anything with
consultants that is not fixed bid. Make this an iron-clad rule.
Also remember, you do not have to allow consulting companies to
"pad" a project because it is fixed bid. You should allow them a
little room (20% at most) to account for a few unexpected things,
but don't let them pad more than that.
Do your own project management - Consultants are almost never
great project managers. Unless you completely "farm out" a project
to an outside firm, you should always use an in-house project
manager. There is an inherent conflict of interest when you assign
project manager duties to them.
Anyways hire the best consultant for your tasks - If you need
Exchange 2000 experience, then find a consultant who is an expert
at that product. Don't award the contract to the group you've been
using just because you are comfortable with them. You are going to
be paying top dollar for the expertise, so get top talent. If your
favorite consultants have the experience or knowledge, then fine,
use them, otherwise, find someone who has exactly what you need.
It's difficult to manage consultants off-site - If you must manage
a consultant or a consulting firm off-site, then you must manage
the project to death. Every detail must be checked, and
communication must be flawless. Since you are not seeing them
every day (or even every week), then you are increasing the risk
of failure greatly by allowing them to work off site.
Never, ever use consultants for maintenance tasks - The only
exception would be in an emergency situation, such as your only
in-house expert quit or something to that effect. Your own staff
MUST be sufficient to handle the day-to-day production tasks at
all times. Consultants are extremely expensive, and since they are
not employees they generally do not have the mind-set and desire
to perform the more mundane, daily procedures. (Remember that
outsourcing is different than hiring consultants. Outsourcing is
finding a company to do a task, such as running your accounting
system, for you on a routine basis. Outsourcing can be a very cost
effective solution under many conditions.)
Demand detailed time-sheets from all consultants - This helps
keeps them honest and allows them to communicate what they have
accomplished. Review these time sheets constantly.
Do not cut your consultants any slack - Consultants are very
expensive and are always expected to be experts (otherwise why
did you hire them in the first place?) Demand they work hard and
produce constantly.
Do not hesitate to fire consultants - A consultant (and a
consulting company) has absolutely no rights unless they are in
a written agreement. If a consultant has a bad attitude, does not
work well with others or is not getting the job done, then you
don't have to be and should not be a nice guy. You don't have to
give them notice (unless you have a contract which says
otherwise), you don't have to coddle them, and you don't have to
put up with anything. They are NOT employees.
Set up benchmarks and milestones and measure performance against
them - Let's say you've hired a consulting company to write a new
warehouse system. They have finished the analysis and produced a
specification which you have approved. Now be sure you get a time
line with tasks to be completed and demonstrated on specific
dates. Make your consultants prove they have met those milestones
completely and with quality. Correct any issues fast, and if the
consulting company continues to miss deadlines or produce poor
products, then take strong action. If necessary, stop the project
and find a new consulting group. DON'T throw good money after bad
just because "you've already spent a million" or whatever. You are
just digging a deeper hole for your casket.
Write good contracts - Coming up with a good contract for a
consultant is an art and a science in and of itself. Make sure you
can terminate immediately for cause, not producing, not meeting
schedules and so on.
Manage your project - Most importantly, if you are the project
manager, then manage your project. Control everything thoroughly,
test assumptions and demand not only results, but demonstrations
of results. Don't believe anything without proof and without
actually seeing it (either yourself or your supervisor-level
subordinates). Most importantly, demand compliance to your
contracts, your standards and your specifications. And finally,
demand that consultants meet their commitments without fail.
About the Author
Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of Internet Tips And Secrets
at http://www.internet-tips.net - Visit our website any time to
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