Consulting is hard:
Part 1

Matt Gauger

Bendyworks, July 2013

No really, consulting is really, really effing hard

Why is it hard?

Because it's not about how much code you can write in a day.

It's whether or not you're solving real problems.

Why this talk?

Bendyworks is a consultancy

You are a consultant

We thrive on solving problems and writing code.

But we're failing if we show up to a project and only write code.

What we need is a method for finding & solving the real problems among:

• interpersonal, team, and culture problems
• changing requirements and business logic
• uncertainty
• failure

The Secrets of Consulting

In the past, we read The Secrets of Consulting for book club

We didn't all like this book, and we didn't all agree.

But the conversations this book caused were very valuable.

If you weren't a part of that book club, then you missed out on a huge part of Bendyworks learning to consult.

So let's talk about some of the lessons from the first chapter of The Secrets of Consulting.

Fair warning: Jerry Weinberg makes up all these "laws" that are really just names and funny stories to help you remember them later.

The First Rule of Consulting:

There's always a problem

The Second Rule of Consulting:

It is always a people problem.

Pop quiz:

Why do managers at companies hire us?

In the culture of management, the worst thing you can do is acknowledge that you have a problem that you can't handle yourself. If you really do need help, you need to sneak it in somehow without admitting in public that there is a problem at all.

— Secrets of Consulting

Offer improvement

aka The Ten Percent Law

If you promise too much, they'll never hire you.

(It would force them to admit there is a problem.)

Make them look good.

(Remember improv?)

It's always a people problem

Corollary to the Second Law of Consulting:

Whatever the client is doing, advise something else.

People close to a problem tend to keep repeating what didn't work the first time.

Never forget that they're paying you by the hour.

This doesn't mean milk them for as much time as possible.

Corollary to the First Law of Consulting:

You'll never accomplish anything if you care who gets the credit.

Make your partner look good. (Improv again!)

When an effective consultant is present, the client solves problems.

The Fourth Law of Consulting

If they didn't hire you, don't solve their problem.

Never forget that consulting is the art of influencing people at their request.

Honestly?

I think the 1st & 2nd laws are the only important ones:

There's always a problem

It is always a people problem.

Keep these in mind!

Lessons from the field

Show value rather than arguing

• Remember: "Yes and" not "No but"
• Clients are a lot more receptive if you show the value of something rather than argue about the technical correctness of something. (I am very guilty of the latter.)
• Mic pointed out that a lot of time this can be accomplished by providing data. So have data whenever you go into a conversation to convince someone.
  • Data means anything you've got: prototypes, interviews, case studies, whitepapers; NOT JUST NUMBERS!

Sometimes convincing the client that one thing is better than another isn't the most important

• There may be other elephants in the room.
• You may be focusing at solutions at a micro level and missing the 20,000 foot view at the macro level.

They're paying as much for our culture and our values as they are our coding ability.

If our culture or values are challenged (ie, "well, we don't want you to write tests"), then be assertive in maintaining our values. That's what they're paying us for.

Meeting skills

Read these articles on meetings from Rands:

• Meeting Creatures
• Agenda Detection
• How to Run a Meeting

Learn who "The Ringer" is in any meeting

• Who is this meeting for?
• Who needs to hear what we need to say?
• Who is making a decision based on this knowledge?

Share only what is necessary

• Consider your audience (Does the PM really need to know every action you took on a pull request?)
• People can only hold so many pieces of information in their heads
• Leave people with action items
• Respect their time and their knowledge

Shared Terminology we use at Bendyworks:

Violent Agreement

"Technical Tap"

• Percussive maintenance on Wikipedia.
  • the idea of hitting a malfunctioning device to make it work
  • See also: Precordial thump

    The precordial thump is a medical procedure used to respond to ventricular fibrillation or ventricular tachycardia in a patient. It consists of a single, carefully-placed blow to the sternum with the base of the fist or hand.

Feedback Loops

The Orange Juice Test

(from The Secrets of Consulting: Chapter 2)

Questions?

Should I do another one of these?