Some practical tips about being the person who is always judged : “The consultant”

“Design products for who your users are, not who you want them to be.”- Don Norman

Few people think of a ‘Rock Star’ consultant as a ‘Bull in a china shop’ . It pains to see people of this kind.

Ask any successful consultant and he will say that the first thing that you do is to be ‘One of them’ . Pick your battles , loose some , stroke the egos if needed — gain the trust . Once you have done this ; it is your time to bring about the changes that you want to see. You may argue and ask ‘Why should I go through this pain, am I not helping them?’ . Well think about this , the person who signs the check is not normally the person whom you are asked to help.

You will find many Business Analysts falling into this trap. In a typical IT vendor — Customer relationship most of the times the vendor team will dream up a solution during the requirements phase. No doubt about the intentions but the solution is based on the few weeks of brainstorming that happens between the vendor team and the Customer team.It is unfair to expect some one to live and breath the customers billion year old business in a span of few weeks. This is the first mistake ; not allowing the customer to arrive at a solution but creating one yourself and selling it as the philosopher’s stone.

The second mistake is to stick on to this solution when you find that the customer team on the ground has not bought into the solution. This is especially typical in big organisations which is very process oriented.

When faced with these problems you can try out a few things ; again these are something which a good consultant worth his salt will do.

1. Do not try to push your way to reach the end goal. Always suggest multiple options ; guide the customer towards the right/preferred option.

2. Pick your battles. Remember, I can tell you smoking is bad but at the end of the day its your lungs. If the option picked by the customer doesn’t hurt you pretty badly , its okay to let him win .

3. Take good care of your end users. Don’t worry too much about the people who sign the check . Feedback is mostly bottom up.

4. Follow up on the feedback/requests from the end users. Assure them that there is someone who is listening to them.

5. Meet the noise makers regularly. Try an informal setting if possible. Do not let them brood over something for long.

6. Never shy away from taking a detour from your original vision. Its okay to accept that, as and when you get to know more about the customer ,your solution is bound to evolve. Some times your original goal will have to be entirely scrapped.

Appeared first in my blog http://rajeevanair.blogspot.in/