Consultants Saying Things

If you live in the real world, if you practice your profession in the real world, then you'll know the real world loves throwing crap at you whenever it can.    The challenges come at us from every angle: family, work, friends, clients, colleagues, children, culture, technology, politics, pandemics... just to name a few.    How on Earth is your average consultant expected to na...

Consulting can be a tough game. All of these Type-A personalities aggressively posturing and circling each other for the kill. Egos are large and there's no shortage of locker-room braggadocio. It's an industry that employs far too many sports metaphors and comes with a distinct odor of machismo. Couple this with the fact that consultants dealing in Business/Technology Architecture roles often hav...

I'm tired of Covid. How bout you? Unfortunately, it probably doesn't matter if we're tired of it or not. We've all been talking quite a lot about Covid impacts. We've all been living the Covid new-normal lifestyle. We've been quarantined and socially distanced and working from home and hunkered down. We've been living this Covid reality. My question is simple: Have we learned anything or will thin...

You may be thinking that now is the time to hunker down and just hope your business can survive. But what if you're missing out on a killer opportunity? With the economy under pressure, an ongoing global pandemic and a healthy dose of socio-political uncertainty, it sure seems like the moment is right for the enterprise to keep its head down. Of course, if your company is out there hunting for val...

Check your endpoint. It's probably not as safe from cyberthreats as you think. And Covid made it worse... The cybersecurity landscape has been dicey for years. In just the past week there have been massive outages in the networks of Tesla, Microsoft, Apple and AT&T. Think about that. Those companies basically impact every aspect of life. And while they've done a lot to protect their services o...

The ongoing global pandemic has profoundly impacted our clients and the way we work. It has also forced us to make major changes to our daily routines and behaviors. Given the prolonged (and prolonging) health crisis and related economic and social upheavals around the world, it may seem like things have jumped the shark and spun totally out of control. The world has hit us upside the head with a...

One of the most overwrought concepts in business and technology is the idea of the Enterprise Architect and the Architecture they practice. Libraries have been written about this topic. Literally. Libraries. I wanted to have a discussion that was less about what it is and more about some of the most effective ways to practice it. So I called on my buddy Mike Walker to join me with some of my other...

If there is one thing the pandemic has revealed to us more than anything else, it's how terrible people are at video conferencing.  Whether it is the "up-the-nostril" laptop webcam shot, the dark-cave lighting problems or someone munching trail mix during the steering committee meeting, our collective quarantine has really demonstrated that most people don't quite have the hang of the video c...

Yes the global pandemic has altered almost everything about how we work. But it has also dramatically impacted our clients and their businesses.   It can be easy to first consider how the Coronavirus is impacting us personally. Our clients are also thinking of how this crisis is hitting their bottom line. What is the role that we as advisers can play when it comes to helping our clients throu...

The Coronavirus has had dramatic impact on our world. Everything from how we eat to how we learn has changed. The way we work has also changed.   Even though Consultants may be more accustomed to remote work and video conferences than average people, the impact on consulting, advisory and delivery has also been dramatic and rapid. This current new reality we are in requires us to work in new...

The year has come and gone. Lot's of interesting stuff happened this year in the world of technology and business. Transformations occurred. Lessons were learned. We spent an hour talking about none of those things. I give you the second Christmas Special episode of Consultants Saying Things. Warning: Drinking was involved. This is our attempt at an annual retrospective. What did WE learn that mig...

How often have you seen consulting job descriptions that contain things like "10 years of health claims processing experience required" ? Ever thought that it sounded like a bunch of crap? Well I sure do. So I got my smart friends on the line and asked them, is domain or industry specific knowledge REALLY necessary in the consulting industry? Or is it possible that any half-decent consultant could...

You're a consultant. You've been doing your thing. Suddenly Big 4 Firms and various magazines and LinkedIn rivals tell you you've been doing it ALL WRONG! Consulting 1.0? No no no. You should be doing Consulting 4.0!! You know your stuff. No one has ever told you that what you were doing was so out of date it needed a version number attached to it.  It's like cell phone speed hype (that never...

Consulting practitioners aren't often asked by prospective clients about their value system. But if we're real about it for a split second, our values dictate the work we do and how we do it. And outside of work, people seem to make a big deal about their values and how they guide their life decisions. But if we're going to walk the talk, I want to know how one's value system tangibly impacts how...

Let's be honest, if you aren't digitizing right now, you're probably platform modernizing.  In fact, Platform Modernization is a key part of all 10 of CIO Magazine's top issues for 2019. And probably 2020. And probably 2021. But as practitioners, we've all been part of plenty of 'modernization' efforts that have gone off the rails. You know what I'm talking about. The plan to modernize XYZ th...

If you're a consultant, there's a good chance you've thought about starting your own consulting business at some point. What are the key things you need to know to have a shot at success? What should you avoid doing?    I wanted to get the perspective of some of my smart friends that have started companies and been around plenty of people who have both succeeded and failed.   ...

Project Management is a roadblock to rapid execution and transformation. It is outdated and serves only to tie up the agile enterprise in red tape. Or so many folks believe. I've had many experiences with Project Management, Project Managers, and Project Management Offices and I was curious what actual PMO practitioners thought about the PMO in the modern digital enterprise. So I asked my friend H...

The concept of "work-life balance" has got to be one of the most meaningless, wink-and-nod, overused career tropes out there. Right? Some say it is all about living life and finding a job that fits into that life while others claim it is about figuring out how to shape your life around your career. In fact, so much has been written about finding work-life balance that the term has become virtually...

For many folks in the business, the centralized 'legacy IT' group is just too damn slow and expensive and has too many rules. So why not fire up Excel and nab a few SaaS accounts and just get stuff done?  With the accelerated adoption and normalization of cloud computing, consumerization and no-code applications, there are many parts of the business that are operating as a quasi-technology gr...

Tired of nonstop social media posts urging you to 'hustle' and 'grind' to get ahead and stay ahead?  Feel like you need a dozen certifications and maybe a couple published books in order to demonstrate your expertise to potential employers or clients?  If you aren't networking and branding and selling constantly, how on earth do you stay relevant in your field? This topic came up with so...

Is Agile methodology a revolutionary approach to software development, or has it become corrupted into expensive consulting theater that ignores organizational context and culture? Watch the show for the 5 big things you need to know about agile. We Discuss: Where did Agile come from and what is its background? Does it matter where the concept of Agile started if it works? Is there data to support...

Solving business problems is programmatic, right? That is, if one follows a specific, prescribed formula, all business problems can be recognized and addressed. Or would you say that every good solution to a business problem is arrived at via gut instinct? That it is more through nuance and flexibility in the face of ambiguity that success can be achieved? In our first episode of Season 2, I'm...

In this year-end special, our experienced consultants share their personal triumphs, challenges, and lessons learned from the past year. Join us as we delve into the ups and downs of the consulting life and explore insights on adapting to change, maintaining work-life balance, and navigating ethical dilemmas in an ever-evolving industry. 9 Takeaways: Chris' harrowing experience with pulmonary...

As companies navigate mergers or acquisitions they invariably run up against sticky post-merger problems that often prevent them from realizing their potential. Here are 6 things to consider when thinking about M&A. We Discuss: What are the major areas prone to M&A failure? (Hint: Security) Why do so many deals fail? - What role does technology play in M&A failure rates? What is the im...

Most don't understand what DevOps is about. When business and technology are collaborating to deliver capabilities, clarity of purpose and communication are critical. Here are 8 things to know about DevOps. Pete Heard joins us. He is the founder of Logic Room. He works hard to help clients achieve clarity by cutting through the theory, hacks and buzzwords that don't help them address their...