Stan, a prospective client, had trouble making time for our discovery call. (That’s the call where the client and I discuss the boundaries of a consulting engagement.) After he canceled three scheduled calls, I suspected we would not work together. But then he asked me for an evening conversation, after his day’s “craziness.” (His words, […]
I am thrilled to announce a book birthday: Successful Independent Consulting: Relationships That Focus on Mutual Benefit. People often ask me how long it takes me to write a book. Every book takes the time it takes. But this one took much longer than I expected. Here’s the story of the consulting book. In the
Barney, a senior manager, said, “I need everyone to return to the office. I’m okay with what they’re doing, although I miss the buzz of people doing the work. But I don’t know how to build the human connection with them when they’re not here.” I nodded. “You’re always telling me to have empathy with
One of the themes that runs through the Successful Independent Consulting: Relationships That Focus on Mutual Benefit is: “Invite people to your newsletter.” Why? Because those people gave you permission to market to them. Your subscribers don’t have to like everything you write—as long as they like most of what you write. Or that you
Do you ever want to bounce ideas off someone else? Or learn the way they approach a particular problem? I’m not talking about anyone’s specific capabilities. Instead, we can enhance our abilities by working with someone else. That brings its problem: How do you choose that learning partner? I’ve worked with several partners as a
How to Describe All the Value When You Want to Influence Do you ever wonder how to describe the value of the changes you’ve led or want to lead? Fred, a project leader, needs a new job. His company—despite his project’s success—laid him off. He needs to influence hiring managers to look at his resume
How should agile coaches work? I’ve heard several questions and problems around what agile coaches should and should not do. Should agile coaches focus on: How well the teams use their pre-determined agile framework. (For example, how good is their Scrum?) Enroll (or somehow persuade) the managers in an agile mindset. (As an example, how
When you’re starting off as a consultant, you might take the first one or two engagements a client offers. However, at some point, you’ll see an engagement that is wrong. It’s wrong for the client. It’s wrong for you. No one will see the results either of you wants. What should you do? I see
I delivered a Modern Management Made Easy talk and ranted about 100% utilization. One of the questions in the chat was: “Don’t consultants want 100% utilization? If you’re not working, you’re not billing.” Here’s how consultants create utilization-based billing: By the hour. Even worse, in 15-minute increments. Time and materials. I don’t do that. Why
, In my session at Agile 2015, (Agile Hiring: It’s a Team Sport) one participant asked me if I hire contractors the same way I hire employees. I do. I use the same approaches for reviewing resumes, phone screens, interviews and decisions. The one difference is the offer—instead of a yearly salary paid in some