Use your consultant correctly
Management
Congratulations on your new consultant! Before you start working with the consultant, please read this manual to learn how to use them safely, efficiently, and without harming the environment.
Almost all projects have phases where the workload is higher than average and additional resources are needed. When the resource shortage panic pats you on the shoulder, you might forget what kind of creature this mythical resource actually is.
What is the difference between a resource and a consultant?
A resource is a machine existing in the imagination of upper middle management that converts specs into code. The spec is pushed into the slot in front of the resource, a grinding noise is heard, and the finished code rolls out of the resource. Such a machine has not been invented, so instead of a resource, its closest real-life equivalent, a consultant, must be used.
A consultant is a human being who studies the spec given to them, forms a logical image of it, and uses their skill and creativity to design code whose operation approximates the definition in the spec. Occasionally, grinding noises can be heard from a consultant too. The amount of grinding should be minimised by following these instructions:
A good consultant is a good listener: the more you talk to the consultant, the better they understand what you want.
The consultant also has tips for improving operating processes, and they like it when things are done smartly.
The consultant does not assume that every day is a crazy party: even dealing with tedious jobs is fine, as long as they have been discussed in advance.
A consultant is also an expert who can be brought into a project to solve a problem that the current team members, for one reason or another, cannot handle – or to do work that is so dirty, difficult, complex, tedious or unclear that no one from the company's own staff agrees to touch it. A consultant knows how to prepare for this too, it's part of the job description.
Do not abuse your consultant!
A Rocket Science consultant is particularly motivated to do their job quickly and well, respecting the client – after all, the consultant's reputation in future assignments depends on this. A consultant wants to maintain and accumulate their skills. Deliberately prolonging and complicating a job would be the complete antithesis of what makes a consultant enjoy their work.
A consultant is not a tank containing a completed project, from whose tap the project can be steadily drained as the contract progresses from the start date to the deadline.
Remember, a consultant is also human. They need favourable conditions to succeed in their work. Fortunately, you don't have to guess these conditions, you can just ask (see the checklist below).
Rocket Science consultants know and dare to say how they should be used. The difference between a resource and a consultant is precisely that a consultant tells the client how things are. This way, the consultant can influence the company's operations so that the end result is better. A resource, on the other hand, does as they are told and complains to their friends over a beer about a rubbish boss.
One of the hardest things about consulting (and life in general) is not telling clients things they are not ready to hear. Telling them is not always even necessary and is often harmful. If you can get the client to understand their problem (e.g., by asking a couple of good questions), it turns into actions. Another way is to go to the client with a solution, not a problem.
Hiring a consultant is not rocket science
A consultant is neither a toy nor a lapdog, but a useful animal. Do not hire a consultant to be wallpaper in your meetings, but arrange a stimulating space where the consultant can sniff, dig, scratch, and wallow in code. This keeps them enthusiastic and high-performing. Standing idle makes a consultant go stale.
By talking together with the salesperson and the consultant, the coding and the compensation are matched to suit each other, and after that, the work can begin. The aim is to get things right first time: pay more to save.
A consultant is not a parasite infiltrating the company to replace its own employees. The goal of a Rocket Science consultant is not to fill all the available tasks with new consultants and demand a ransom for running the company's vital functions.
Instead, a consultant is a kind of low-pass filter: a reserve of work performance that can be deployed and gotten rid of much more easily than a real employee. Once the work is done, you can wave goodbye to the consultant with peace of mind. The consultant won't be offended by this, as they are already aware when taking the job that they are only visiting.
Often, it also happens that the consultant's contribution and skills are valued so highly that they are wanted to remain involved in the project in the future too.
Check at least these – you'll save time and money!
Start date?
Contact person to guide them into the work?
Remote work option or not?
Workstation?
Tools? Computer, monitor, keyboard, mouse, cables, software, licenses, dongles? For an embedded dev, etc., also the device being developed or its development version, debugger, oscilloscope, power supplies, soldering tools... Few things ruin a start as badly as missing tools!
User accounts and access rights. You wouldn't believe how many people mess this up!
Network connection? This too has been missing sometimes!
Access cards and permits?
Who is the immediate supervisor? Who are the other supervisors?
Team members?
Who should be asked if they don't know?
Project specs: what do I need to do, why am I here?
Source code? If it already exists.
Documentation? Hopefully there is some. Although there never is.
Peace to work.
Where to get food? Where is the toilet?
Is it okay to work late? Do the lights turn off automagically? Can they be turned back on? And what about the alarms?
Where am I? Am I in Turku, or did I end up in hell?
Looking for a good, cheap and immediately available consultant?
Let's think about what “good, cheap & immediately available” actually mean.
Good = skilled, clever, capable, talented, competent. The consultant understands the client's business, writes high-quality code, documents clearly, and suggests how to do things better.
Cheap = costing little, inexpensive; insignificant, minor, low. The consultant is cheap.
Immediately available = without delay i.e. idle right now, not used by anyone, unreserved. There is something wrong with the consultant, or you have had devilish good luck.
An impossible equation.