Sorry for the OT post but I'm positive that several people here are
consultants... or work
with them.

I'm writing another article in my "5 Things the CIO should know..." series,
which includes
"7 things the CIO should know about telecommuting" (http://www.cio.com/article/
108501), "5 things the CIO should know about software requirements" (http://
www.cio.com/article/29903), and "...about fighting spam"
(http://www.cio.com/article/
28830).

This time, I'm asking contractors and consultants about their experiences with
clients --
in particular, with the upper management at the client company. I'd love to
include your
input.

There's just one question to answer: If you could get the (client) boss(es) to
understand
JUST ONE THING about computer consulting and contracting, what would it be?

Or, to put the same question another way: If you were given a single wish of
something to
change (about a current or past client) what would it be?

If you're an active consultant or IT contractor, I'm sure you have more than one
response.
But by asking you to give me only ONE answer, I can prioritize the issues that
matter most
to consultants and contractors. (I spent several years in that role myself, so
believe me... I
have my own list!) I'll turn the responses into a list of the top items, and --
since this is for
CIO.com -- in this case the upper management at your client might actually read
it. If I do
my job well, he or she might actually learn from it.

If you aren't a consultant, that's okay -- I'll still be happy for your input.
Because there are
plenty of problems that consulting and contracting causes for IT staff. (I'd
give a few
examples here but I don't want to make suggestions that cause you to say, "Yeah,
just like
that!")

In either case, your "just ONE thing" can be something tiny and annoying, or a
wide
generality. This is about what gets *your* shorts twisted in a knot; you don't
have to worry
about whether it bugs other people too.

Anecdotes are wonderful. Please, share horror stories.

Two important requests:

* PLEASE do not make your single answer a rant about outsourcing overseas. We
have
plenty of material on that subject already and it's entirely predictable. I'm
much more
interested in writing this article with specific advice that's more, well, close
to home.

* Remember that I'm writing an article and I need to quote my sources. I
generally can't get
away with anonymous quotes. So please *please* give me your name, company name
("self
employed consultant" is fine though your company name is better), some idea of
your
company size (that is, a solo developer may have different perspective from a
larger
consulting firm), your personal role (i.e. "a consultant who specializes in web
development" or "a Java programmer on staff"), number of years consulting, and
location.
If you refer to a client, supply some kind of description for credibility (i.e.
"a large
insurance company in the midwest" if you don't feel comfortable saying, "When I
was a
consultant at State Farm..."). At a minimum, send me a private e-mail message at
esther at
bitranch dot com. The point is that I need to provide references, or the article
lacks
credibility.

I'll check back here -- because I'm sure this will be a fun topic for the
community to
discuss -- but I'd also be happy to hear from you privately.

I'll collect input until, oh, sometime next week. Say, the end of July. Then
I'll collate the
responses and turn them into something (arguably) brilliant to which you can
point
prospective clients.


Esther Schindler
Senior Online Editor, CIO.com
http://advice.cio.com/blogs/youre_the_boss