There is a lot to keep up with in the data world. Going through a consulting process, I’ve begun to see a more clear process. It doesn’t have to that complicated.

First, I don’t want to give away trade secrets from these consultants. They work hard and do a good job. This article is not about that.

Experience Service

What I noticed was the engagement started with a series of conversations with top executives, talking about pain points and collaborative opportunities. Then we had a kick off meeting where we discussed a series of top-level outcomes. After that the consultants meeting one-on-one with people in the organization to get a full view of how things are going.

These consultants emphasize collaboration, which makes a lot of sense for an experience-based service. David Maister talks about 3 types of professional services offering efficiency, experience, or expertise. Efficiency services are like the tax preparers who set up a table in the grocery store, they go fast. Experience services are like the accountant in a strip mall, 30 years of accounting has taught them quite a lot. Expertise services are like the Big 5 accounting firms who have been toe to to with the IRS in litigation.

Collaboration for experience makes sense. Let the internal experts maximize their deep knowledge the company’s situation and let the outside view strengthen the effectiveness of everyone at the table.

The alternative is when a consulting company comes in to be the experts. They tend to take over, get people to work 12-hour shifts to make them look good, and leave with a bigger mess than things were in the first place. Expert consulting goes well when the experts can do their own work and deliver something valuable that adds to an organization.

Pillars of Data

Data is used more and more in organizations as an asset. Some companies put it on their books because they have externalized the value of what they know and can sell it.

Different consulting organizations break this down in different ways, but basically the goal is to look at the revenue, cost, and risk associated with each use of the data. Given this information, a company can make some top-level decisions about what’s going on, and what needs to be improved.

Biases

Unless I’m careful, I can get too close to the problems and focus on what’s hard or urgent. It limits my view of what’s important.

More damning is when I get defensive when confronted by an additional point of view. That tells me I’ve gone way too deep into problems and could use a breather.

This kind of a review is really useful. I should do it informally with every project.

References

Maister, D. H. (2012). Managing The Professional Service Firm. Simon & Schuster UK. https://books.google.com/books?id=2VpMK-uoJVMC