[Tfug] [OT, slightly] IT Consulting

[Jim Secan]

A point the article is making, and one that cannot be overemphasized, is
that a critical role the consultant must take on is that of getting firm
documentation of the requirements and them being a serious asshole about
changes.  It needs to be made very clear up front that the requirements
step is critical and that there will be little room for "gee, can't we
just add this capability" once everyone's signed off on the requirements. 
And the customer needs to pay to get a firm requirements document.  If
they refuse, you either walk away or take it out of your own hide,
depending on how hungry you are.

If the requirements are fuzzy (ie, real world) and might actually change
once the customer has a prototype, then the consultant should tell the
customer that a prototype stage, with a second go-around with the
requirements document, is a must.  This costs more, but an ethical
consultant should make this point and stick by it.

Many of these big projects fail because they are seriously underbid, a
fault of both the consultants and the buyers (the Government is seriously
bad with this, as are the usual suspects on Government bids - the big IT
sellers like IBM, SAIC, Boeing, et al).

Being honest up-front, and an asshole later, may make you lose clients,
but what you lose in clients you gain in sleeping well at night (or
better, anyway).

Jim

keith smith wrote:
> Interesting article.  Here is my experience.  Most business people do not
> know what they want nor do they understand their needs.  Most small
> business people know even less.
>
> Projects are difficult and project creep is a reality.  It is very easy to
> underbid and then find out the project is 70% under funded.  This is not
> like building a building where one must start with architect who gives
> them a complete plan for how things are to be built.  Even under these
> circumstances projects over run budget.
>
> Custom systems are difficult to estimate, control, and make successful.
>
> I find it amazing "...Remember that more than 50 percent of big IT
> projects fail completely...".
>
> I'm thinking it must be more than the consultant that failed.  Customers
> cause most of the problems in my estimation.
>
> Who is watching over the project at the company that hired the consulting
> company that failed?  Did the company actually listen and follow the
> consultant?
>
> I'm not pointing fingers.  My stance is IT projects are difficult and it
> requires both parties to work closely together to reach success.
>
> Keith
>
>
> Jim Secan <jim at nwra.com> wrote: For those of you who lurk, or bask, on
> this list, Cringley has an
> interesting take on IT consultants in this week's rant:
>
>
>
> Jim
> *---------------------*-------------------------------*
> | Jim Secan           | Northwest Research Assoc, Inc |
> | (jim at nwra.com)      | 2455 E. Speedway, Suite 204   |
> | (520) 319-7773      | Tucson, Arizona 85719         |
> *---------------------*-------------------------------*
>
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> ------------------------
> Keith Smith
> (520) 207-9877
> PHP Programmer
>
>
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