How To Discern Among PM Consultants

 

I think one of the funniest things about the automatically difficult role consultants in general and PM consultants in particular assume is the inherent double-bind nature of their jobs. It’s a double-bind thing rather than a single-step contradiction (e.g., a “Catch-22”) due to the multiple-step nature of the (eventual) contradiction, so:

• Consultants aren’t needed unless the host organization realizes it is experiencing problems its own personnel are not able to handle.
• Unless the consultants are okay with having their roles evolve to long-term subcontractors, they must be able to identify the inadequacies within the host organization, and then implement steps to advance the capability that is currently lacking.
• If the problem or issue lies within the team or group that brought the consultants in in the first place, the consultants are in the unenviable position of having to criticize the very personnel who will be deciding whether or not to keep them around.
• If the problem or issue lies outside the team or group that brought them in, then the odds of their recommendations being adapted by an organization that (a) didn’t bring them in in the first place, and (b) probably rejects said conclusions, are low indeed.

Of course, many consultants bring extremely valuable experiences and techniques to organizations that need them to get over a (hopefully) temporary difficulty or issue, which is one of the reasons why there are so many of them. Given that the population of PM consultants is relatively high, how does one discern between those who are the genuine article, and those who are not as competent as they pretend to be? Well, you bait them.

Can You Be More Specific?

Okay, so how does one bait a PM contractor, exactly? Well, it helps to know a few of the characteristics of each type. Typically, the real deal will have at least a few of the following:

• Personnel with the PMP®, or other relevant certifications,
• Published articles in the Project Management Journal, PMNetwork, here (ProjectManagement.com), or other (again, relevant) go-to places for project management insight,
• Technical papers presented at one of PMI’s Congresses, or other PM-related venues, or
• An objective track record of resolving issues quickly and permanently, for clients who are available to give rave reviews.

On the other hand, the consultants that you just might want to avoid tend to have some of the following:

• Only government clients (for the United States government, employees are usually enjoined from providing any publicly-available negative feedback about a contractor, no matter how shoddy their work is),
• Few or no certifications or publications,
• If they have presented a paper at a conference, it tends to be the same old blather about the basics of Earned Value or Critical Path methodologies, or why it’s a good idea to do them, or (my least favorite) how they were on a project where they did project management “right,” and everyone else in the universe needs to copy what they did, right down to hiring the same personnel (them).

What If I Still Can’t Tell?

If none of these tells are available, then the next level of discernment involves the actual baiting. After the consultant has been on-site for an adequate period of time, and is ready to provide their findings and recommendations, ask the following questions:

• If the problem identified has been known to the project team for some time, ask if they got their problem ID/recommendations from one of them.
• If they answer in the affirmative, ask why they didn’t disclose that fact;
• If they answer in the negative, ask why they didn’t bother to interview the project team.

There really is no correct answer to this line of inquiry, and you’re not looking for one. What we’re trying to discern here is the true differentiation among great and not-so-great consultants. The former will improve the people around them, even those considered by the host organization to be the lowliest; poor consultants will keep alive the shortfalls and inadequacies of the host organization, to better make the case that they need to be kept around. Assuming the position of outsider-looking-in and constantly criticizing elements of the host organization is a sure sign of a poor consultant. Great consultants will tend to take the responsibility for the lingering issues in the short term order to give more time to their host organization-trained staff to get things right in the long run. The only remaining question is: if you become aware that your consultants are less than great, what do you do about it?

Lagniappe

In addition to the webinar I’m doing with ProjectManagement.com on March 16, I’m also presenting at the PMI® Rio Grande Chapter meeting on April 20, at the Sandia Hotel & Casino in Albuquerque (where I will do my level best to avoid mocking risk analysts). The first person who approaches me after the presentation and says “I read your ProjectManagement.com blogs all the time, and I think you’re too hard on accountants” will receive a copy of my third book for free (it’s listed on Amazon for $116).