A novice's consulting learning ladder

"If XYZ (company name) is here then atleast we need not worry about IT in our company". A comment made by a member from client. A Smile full of pride was evident on my face but this made me much more aware of the fact whether it is your first or z’th assignment you need to provide the client with the best possible solution to enhance your company’s value among the customer. For the client we as a part of customer facing group are the representatives of XYZ so it becomes our full responsibility to do justice to company’s reputation.

That was the first learning step I landed upon when I stepped onto consulting ladder

It was green field project. As the name suggest client just have field that is green and a vision to reach to the pinnacle. So in a green field project data isn’t easy to come by especially in company where IT is just a supporting function. The IT know-how is pretty less in such organizations as IT department at a startup is very small sized that is just good enough to sustain routine work. So, a consultant is taken into an advisory mode. To freeze their IT requirements our advice was always taken.

This second step on the ladder was steep to climb but the sooner we jump the better results we can get.

We had a panel group discussion i.e. a key representative of each department. In our case it was VP of each department. This group was formed to discuss at a single platform to freeze the requirements. It started off well but when it came to technology discussions the problem of too many started creeping in. The people who were not concerned with technology were afraid to introduce them and the discussion ware taken into a different direction. Also while introducing a new technology some department fear loss of their value in organization so technology oppositions are by to come if all the people are in the discussions. So it is going to make our job difficult.

Another stepping stone was to include only relevant stakeholders while discussions, otherwise similar problem of “too many” and “oppositions” might creep in.

And in the lastly we always have to be ready for clients "if ... then ..." clause questions. This was the favorite cliché that the stakeholders use. A client knows his business best he always ride his horse of imagination and come out with endless permutation and combinations. Sometimes in those quizzing discussion we can find answer to queries and solutions.

Novice consultant has to be a very good listener as well.

This above experience can be found in many books and forums. This is just a reiteration of these with my own little experience. In this vast consulting field, there are many such ladders to be climbed upon and many different stepping stones to be crossed. This ladder was just another one of them.

It rained that day more than ever before !!!!!

I was on the way,
Looking for somerhing that can make me sway,
It saw a shadow that gave me glimmer of hope,
I opened the window
but it rained that day more than ever before!!!

Last summer i went to play,
The odd tennis game on the clay,
I won all the games before the final day
I went to temple to pray for the D day
But it rained that summer more than ever before!!!

Last night the moon was shinning bright,
It looked as if diamond ring will losse its shine
I was about take her to dine and wine but
It rained that night more than ever before!!!


I was thinking why this rain always come in between
In the green garden I was frustrated and down,
I thought i should knee down,
I found a matchstick and did the ritual
But it rained that whole day more than ever before!!