I’ve been tweeting a daily consulting tip on my new @artofgig twitter account for the last few weeks. So far it’s been a mix of silly and serious, esoteric and practical, n00b tips, and protips. I’ll be compiling these as public posts here every couple of weeks.
If you’re active on twitter, and want to join the conversation there, follow @artofgig, introduce yourself via a reply to this pinned tweet, and follow some of your fellow subscribers on this list. A modest stream of idle consulting chatter is getting underway already.
Here’s the first compilation, tips 1-13.
Consulting Tip #1: Your consulting True Name must be kept a secret except from other consultants with whom you have shared a gig.
Consulting Tip #2: Every gig is a parallel universe with its own timeline. Discover the bandwidth of your personal multiverse as early as you can.
Consulting Tip #3: Define scopes, not rules. Instead of asking, “should I do this?” ask, “under what circumstances would it be a no-brainer to do or not do this?” In consulting, circumstances vary a lot more than in employment.
Consulting Tip #4: Pack a protein bar and a light sweater when visiting client sites. You never know how cold they’ll have the AC set, or whether or not there will be snacks/food to suit your nibbling needs.
Consulting Tip #5: Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to increase the client’s rate of making trigger decisions. Except when it isn’t.
Consulting Tip #6: Trust, but verify, things your client says. Treat them as you would a sympathetic unreliable narrator in a novel. Just because you’re on their side doesn’t mean they have their story straight.
Consulting Tip #7: Do not automatically nod along when a client criticizes people you don’t know. Instead, challenge with more conservative alternate reads of the hearsay evidence. “Based on how you say he acted on the call, sounds like he might just be insecure after the reorg.”
Consulting Tip #8: Never let a missionary purpose in your head get in the way of hearing what a client is saying
Consulting Tip #9: Tour offices at every possible opportunity. Observe layout, patterns of proximity, naming/numbering conventions for physical infrastructure like conference rooms, furniture, break rooms, informational environment like posters and live displays etc.
Consulting tip #10: Tour factories and other specialized work facilities, like design studios or testing environments, at every opportunity possible. Ask operating staff as many questions as possible. Get enough engineering literacy to understand what you’re looking at.
Consulting Tip #11: Pay attention to calendar management practices in client organizations, especially around senior executive schedules, and chat with admins whenever possible to learn the typical patterns of calendar craziness and how they cope.
Consulting Tip #12: Make all travel and site-visits count, but let your primary client gate-keep what’s appropriate for you. Ask if they want you to meet with people you might not otherwise meet, and line up 1:1s.
Consulting Tip #13: Never be a “mysterious outsider” in an internal meeting. When sitting in/calling in on client meetings that aren’t about your gig, always make sure someone introduces you, explains your presence, and says enough to put others at ease. And at least say hello.