Consultants

Consultants 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 read over 1,000 complete FREE articles about how to improve your internet profits, enjoyment and knowledge.