Consultant Addiction

Dan Tynan writes in InfoWorld about consultants who seem to hang around forever and suggests methods for escape. You know the type: they rack up endless billing for their clients without much to show for it. A few choice bits from the article:

Step No. 1: Admit you have a problem

How do you know if you’ve developed a dangerous dependency on service providers?

“One sign is when the temps you’ve hired to fill a short-term need have been there longer than your permanent employees,” says Steve Epner, who founded the Independent Computer Consultants Association 30 years ago and is now a graduate student at Purdue University. “The other sign is when you can’t afford to let a consultant go because they own all the knowledge of your processes and it would be difficult to run the business without them.

Step No. 3: Don’t let money already spent spook you

Many organizations are afraid to let a service provider go because they’ve already sunk so much money into it. That’s a losing strategy…

Step No. 8: Hire knowledge you need

Unfortunately, knowledge transfer, training, and documentation are often neglected or left to the waning weeks of the relationship, when both parties are ready to move on.

How sad that many service providers forget that their only job is to do right by the customer. When consultants view your project as lifetime employment, then failure is just around the corner. You’re not just wasting money on consultants — you’re putting the entire project at risk.