Consulting is a two-way street
Product development
Three Rakettitiede consultants explain how the client and consultant can work together to achieve the best possible outcome, one that is more than just lines of code – creating comprehensive solutions that benefit the business.
It takes two to tango, consulting is a two-way street and whatever these sayings are. The client and the consultant work side by side in development work because they share a common goal: to achieve good results.
Three rocket scientists explain from a consultant’s perspective how goals are achieved:
Joni Toiviainen, rocket scientist #40, has been a consultant for over 6 years and has worked in the field for 15 years in total. He has a point of comparison for the ways of working of both product companies and consultancy firms.
Joona Olkkola, rocket scientist #36, has worked as a developer in both consulting and product companies for 15 years.
Anonymous rocket scientist, who wants to remain unnamed, has worked as an IT consultant for almost 20 years. He could appear under the nickname “I’ve got experience”, but for now we will call him the anonymous rocket scientist.
Working together ensures that, in addition to technical implementations, business objectives are also realised.
Open communication is the foundation of strategic partnership
If the client knows exactly which direction the caravan is being driven, the assignment gets going easily.
“However, a big and fairly common situation is that no one knows what they want to do, but there still has to be a lot of buzz,” says our anonymous rocket scientist.
This does not mean that anyone should stop to work out the perfect five-year plan while the world drifts by. The consultant can act as a supportive force even when only imperfect information and preliminary plans are available.
“While a ‘let’s make a new and better YouTube’ kind of starting point is not a bad idea in itself, it would be good to define the boundaries of what belongs in the future project and, especially, what is intended to be left out,” Joni adds.
One of the consultant’s tasks is to help the client refine and contextualise the assignment. The more the client talks with the consultant, the better the consultant understands the client’s needs and can bring their experience and perspective to bear. Poor communication between the client and the consultant can, at worst, lead to overly expensive and complex technical solutions that are of no benefit to the business.
Joni points out that although consultants like talking about technical details – say, “how they designed an algorithm for the client that beats existing solutions 100–0” – communication also works with those who know less about technology.
Joona adds that a basic understanding of the client’s problem space and, for example, the realities of application development is useful when estimating schedules. Technical knowledge is not mandatory for the client, and its absence does not stop the consultant from communicating smoothly and finding common ground. The most important thing is open communication, which also paves the way for trust to develop.
“Trust is built through open discussion, presence and, ultimately, results. I believe in questions – all kinds of questions and the discussions they lead to are building blocks in the relationship,” Joona says. In his view, it is good that both sides show interest in one another and want to get to know each other – and do not see cooperation merely as a necessary evil for achieving the project’s outcome. Joona also stresses the importance of receiving feedback. Without feedback, it is easy to get the feeling of “does this really matter at all?” “Trust is built through open discussion, presence and, ultimately, results. I believe in questions – all kinds of questions and the discussions they lead to are building blocks in the relationship,” Joona says. In his view, it is good that both sides show interest in one another and want to get to know each other – and do not see cooperation merely as a necessary evil for achieving the project’s outcome. Joona also stresses the importance of receiving feedback. Without feedback, it is easy to get the feeling of “does this really matter at all?”
When consultant and client are on the same wavelength, the consultant can bring all their expertise into play and focus on the right things.
When consultant and client are on the same wavelength, the consultant can bring all their expertise into play and focus on the right things. This ensures that the end result genuinely serves the client’s business and does not merely meet technical specifications.
Open communication and trust create the foundation for strategic partnership. “Trust is built through open discussion, presence and, ultimately, results,” Joona says.
Your own children and the neighbours’ brats
Especially in longer product development projects, rocket scientists have traditionally been like employees of the client, which is a blessing for both consultants and clients.
The culture of rocket science includes the consultant becoming part of the client’s team rather than remaining a distant resource. If the consultant were instead locked in the cellar to code away as an extension of the turnips and potatoes, they might feel like an outsider – if not downright a little awkward.
“In the best-case scenario, the consultant is part of the client’s own development team and brings in slightly different or non-standard perspectives.” – Joona, rocket scientist #36
The less secretive the whole organisation appears to the consultant, the faster they can implement the features the client needs. “There are always some in-house or domain-specific things that even a consultant cannot understand without induction, no matter how much of a guru they are,” our anonymous consultant says. In their experience, the best results and quickest start have been achieved in projects where the consultant has been inducted with the same care as the company’s own employees.
You get the best consulting when you invest in induction! More detailed instructions for bringing a consultant up to speed can be found here: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes – or “how to onboard a consultant”.
Rocket scientists are not just ticket-bashers, nor should their passion be extinguished. “Just throw more fuel on the engine and enjoy the thrill of the ride,” Joni urges.
What does a consultant then need to know?
Perhaps they can be spared the holiday lists and the juicy sequels from the last Christmas parties, but otherwise you should tell them everything even remotely related to the assignment. The overall picture of the client’s everyday life and business comes to the consultant much more easily when they have enough background information.
A developer who is passionate about their work will of course dig out the necessary information themselves too, but they cannot peek into everything on their own, however much they might want to.
“It is important to open up the client’s industry and problem space to the consultant at a macro level, because only through that does the consultant’s tunnel vision regarding the task disappear and their way of thinking broaden,” Joona says.
The client gets the best on the table when strategic solutions and decisions have also been brought to the consultant’s attention. “Sometimes the consultant is not included in business planning or told everything that is needed. You should not keep the consultant in the dark and just try to squeeze code out of them, because that does not bring the client the best added value,” our anonymous rocket scientist explains.
It is worth remembering that the consultant is bound by strict confidentiality obligations – so information can be shared with them in confidence. When the consultant also understands the business strategy and objectives, they can deliver solutions that are genuinely useful.
The consultant is paid not only for expertise but also for opinions. “It is worth involving the consultant in meetings also because they may have genuinely valuable views on things. After all, a consultant has a fair amount of knowledge, especially from outside the company,” Joni reminds us.
The broad experience of an external consultant can diversify perspectives and bring new ideas to the table – this is precisely the added value a strategic partner offers instead of just a resource.
Consultants want nuts
Over the course of their career, a consultant encounters all sorts of technology choices, ways of working and workplace communities with different clients.
“This gives the consultant a varied base from which to see things in a multifaceted way compared with rigid corporate regulations, to which larger companies can easily stiffen over time. In such places the out of the box mindset may have been forgotten, but for a consultant it fits like a glove,” Joni says.
A diverse background means that the consultant can suggest creative, non-standard solutions to the client when the situation calls for it.
An ambitious developer lives and breathes challenges, and too much dull routine work can be boring – especially if they were not warned in advance. A consultant is a consultant because they want challenges, variety and flexibility. When needed, they are of course capable of rolling up their sleeves and doing the dirtier jobs too, but the consultant’s eagerness to learn and broad toolkit should be used ruthlessly – or at the very least it should be ensured that there is enough meaningful work in the backlog.
The consultant’s eagerness to learn and broad toolkit should be used ruthlessly.
“The real treat is when proper nuts come along, the solving of which switches on the brain’s afterburner so that your hair blows about.” – Joni, rocket scientist #40
Joona agrees: “The best thing is to get to do something a bit odd and unfamiliar for yourself in a matter where the solution is of social benefit. I also like having different hats on and getting to the client interface to listen to feedback. In the best cases, as a consultant you feel ownership and a sense of success regarding the end result.”
Sometimes the consultant may have to work in processes and environments that take the focus away from the actual work. “Stumbling blocks include, for example, constraining thinking, too many unnecessary meetings or a shortage of answers,” Joona lists. He adds that in the worst case, it is not possible to work properly, for example because of excessively tight schedules. A good consultant understands, however, that the circumstances are not always optimal – we work with what we have, as long as things are discussed together.
Rocket scientists do not want to be merely ticket-bashers, nor should their passion be extinguished.
“Just throw more fuel on the engine and enjoy the thrill of the ride,” Joni urges. In other words: do not hold back – give the consultant room to shine.
