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

Hey, why be tactful? It's often most useful to whack an exec on the

side of the head. And it's one reason that this sort of article can be

useful... it isn't YOU worrying that if you speak your mind, you'll

lose your gig.



But as a reminder: folks, please give me some way to refer to you in

the article! (We can discuss it privately if necessary.)



E



--- In agile-testing@yahoogroups.com, "Steven Gordon" <sgordonphd@...>

wrote:

>

> I would wish that upper management would be more open to the

possiblity that

> sometimes they are part of the problem.

>

> In other words, when upper management sees a software development

problem,

> assumes that the problems must be due to how the software developers and

> their immediate managers are doing their job, and calls in

consultants to

> help them do their jobs better, sometimes the problem is not in the

> development sphere.  If upper management cannot conceive that they

might be

> doing the things that are causing some of their problems, there is

no way to

> fix the problems.

>

> Given your skills, I hope you can find a more tactfully way to

express this.

>

> Steve

Well I *do* have a better suggestion -- or at least a strong need for one.



If I'm writing for CIOs and top managers, I need them to know that this article

has

credibility. That means I need real names and a real context. It doesn't mean

that you have

to say, "My name is Jo Jones and my client Foo Inc is the stupidest company on

the planet"

(even if it's true). But a manager has to have some sense that the comments are

real, that

they come from people whose opinions and experiences are relevant, or she won't

pay

enough attention to them.



What's wrong with saying, "Steven Gordon, a SCRUM/XP coach"? or "Jo Jones, who

has been

consulting for 10 years and specializes in Java development"? Do you think

they'll really

fail to give you work because you were quoted? (The sad fact is that bad

managers never

recognize themselves in these anecdotes.)



As an example, I'll post something I might write if my own consulting

experiences were

permissible in the article:



Esther Schindler spent 15 years as a computer consultant, often as a contractor

at

software companies. Her pet peeve was IT managers who gave consultants more

credit

than they gave their own staff. At one minicomputer company (which is,

thankfully, long

gone), she was asked to evaluate the QA system for the firm's many language

compilers.

All she did was ask the employees for their input, who were happy to share their

wishlists;

she also did some technical analysis of the process, but that was minor.

However, when

Schindler presented the "here's what needs to change" data to the managers, they

acted as

though she had discovered fire. When the information was available to them all

along.



I don't actually have to mention that it was Prime Computers; the point is the

same.



(And those managers may burn in hell, for all I care. But that's because of a

contract issue,

which is another story entirely.)





--- In agile-testing@yahoogroups.com, "Steven Gordon" <sgordonphd@...> wrote:

>

> E,

>

> Anonymous Scrum/XP Coach, unless you have a better suggestion.

>

> S

>

> On 7/27/07, estherschindler <esther@...> wrote:

> >

> >   Hey, why be tactful? It's often most useful to whack an exec on the

> > side of the head. And it's one reason that this sort of article can be

> > useful... it isn't YOU worrying that if you speak your mind, you'll

> > lose your gig.

> >

> > But as a reminder: folks, please give me some way to refer to you in

> > the article! (We can discuss it privately if necessary.)

> >

> > E

> >

> > --- In agile-testing@yahoogroups.com <agile-testing%40yahoogroups.com>,

> > "Steven Gordon" <sgordonphd@>

> > wrote:

> > >

> > > I would wish that upper management would be more open to the

> > possiblity that

> > > sometimes they are part of the problem.

> > >

> > > In other words, when upper management sees a software development

> > problem,

> > > assumes that the problems must be due to how the software developers and

> > > their immediate managers are doing their job, and calls in

> > consultants to

> > > help them do their jobs better, sometimes the problem is not in the

> > > development sphere. If upper management cannot conceive that they

> > might be

> > > doing the things that are causing some of their problems, there is

> > no way to

> > > fix the problems.

> > >

> > > Given your skills, I hope you can find a more tactfully way to

> > express this.

> > >

> > > Steve

> >

> >

> >

>

estherschindler wrote:



>  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?



That short-term incremental time estimates are priceless and long-term

"big requirements up front" time estimates are worse than useless.



--

  Phlip

  http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596510657/

  ^ assert_xpath

  http://tinyurl.com/23tlu5  <-- assert_raise_message

Michael Bolton wrote a dynamite article that begins:



"AS A CONSULTANT, I’M OFTEN BROUGHT INTO NEW SITUATIONS—COMPANIES OR

departments that are unfamiliar to me. Since my job is to explain

to companies how to be more productive, and since my services

are being paid for, I like to be self-sufficient and effective from the

moment I arrive. Generally, the company has a reasonable idea of

why they’ve hired me, and someone has explained to me the prob-

lem that they’re trying to solve. Often that problem relates to pro-

ductivity. However, it can sometimes take days or even weeks be-

fore I can be productive, because the organization isn’t quite ready

to handle new arrivals."



That should *not* be below the radar screen of a CIO. Everywhere

around us are companies whose CIOs can spout Lean phrases about

driving out waste with the best of 'em. What they don't see is that

the first half day or more of my week at their company is spent

discovering that there's no meeting room for an introductory session,

no place to pair, a key person is out for a dentist appointment, no

one's downloaded tools yet, etc. That's a canary in a coal mine for

me: I'm not the only person whose time is being wasted.



<http://www.developsense.com/articles/Are%20You%20Ready.pdf>





On Jul 27, 2007, at 2:57 PM, estherschindler wrote:



> 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

>

>

>

>

> Yahoo! Groups Links

>

>

>



-----

Brian Marick, independent consultant

Mostly on agile methods with a testing slant

www.exampler.com, www.exampler.com/blog

estherschindler wrote:

> 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.



Just checking, did you get the reply I sent off-list?



   - George



--

   ----------------------------------------------------------------------

    * George Dinwiddie *                      http://blog.gdinwiddie.com

    Software Development                    http://www.idiacomputing.com

    Consultant and Coach                    http://www.agilemaryland.org

   ----------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for your help with my article! I'm happy to report that it's live.



Getting Clueful: Nine Things CIOs Should Know About Computer

Consulting and Contracting



When the workload becomes overwhelming, the project is in trouble, or

expertise doesn't exist in-house, it's common to bring in a consultant

or contractor to fix the problem. The hired guns of IT explain (in

gory detail) the mistakes that enterprise IT managers make, and how to

get the most out of the consulting budget.

http://www.cio.com/article/129250



I had an impressive amount of input, for which I am very grateful. Not

everyone's comments made it into the final article (1500 words had to

be left on the cutting room floor) but I'm pretty pleased with it

nonetheless.



Esther Schindler

senior online editor

CIO.com





--- In agile-testing@yahoogroups.com, "estherschindler" <esther@...>

wrote:

>

> 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

>