On Becoming A Client...

Dear Colleague,

You're reading this document for two reasons...

  1. For entertainment or education on how to do something similar in your own project documentation

  2. You're entertaining the idea of engaging some external help to iron out some kinks in your comapny's business development

If you've chosen #1, enjoy the ride, and if iyou have a question, feel free to email me. I'll do my best to help you.

But in this document I write to you as if you've chosen #2, although there is no obligation in any way, so just relax. All I'm doing is that I'm trying to answer the questions you would ask me before starting a project together. So, the sooner you know the answers, the sooner and better you can decide whether or not we can have a fit for working together. I can promise you something: Never in this document or anywhere else on this website do I try to convince you to buy my products and services. I present the facts in an honest fashion, and the rest is up to you.

So, let's start...

Having come so far, using traffic language, we've reached the proverbial yellow light. From this point we have to decide whether we turn it to green and work together or turn it red and we both go on on our separate ways. So, before you read any further, please read the Frequently Asked Questions section first, so you have a better understanding of who I work with and how I work. Knowing the method to my madness helps you to make an educated decision as to whether or not you still want to consider my help.

Every time we engage external help, we do it because we want to change something in our lives, may it be business or personal life. Yes, business is just one of the several facets of life. It's the means to a better end. In this case you want to change something in your business, and that takes a truckload of courage, discipline and commitment.

Over the years I've had the privilege to work with hundreds of great technology companies, helping them to be the best they can be by stepping up to higher levels of success, so they can better serve their clients and bring pride to their industries, communities and professions.

I take this obligation seriously because I know the improvements we achieve today can pave the path to long-term success for your clients, for your firm and for your people and for you.

I will do my best to assure that your first experience with me is challenging, demanding and rewarding. My engagements are based on the same methods the military uses to train soldiers, although I don't make you run, shoot or crawl. And I never yell. I was a quiet soldier in the army too, and I'm too old to start yelling now.

My engagements are short, typically 90-120 days, and of high intensity. It's a demanding yet, exhilarating experience. The military has taught me that if we train people properly, we aren't able to tell a drill from real life and death situations. The real thing may be even easier. And as an ex-military, I work with my clients as if their lives depended on our engagements. Maybe not their lives, but their livelihood, as business owners, does depend on it.

Keeping the "The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in war" mantra in mind, the military, that allows only very small room for errors, consistently over-trains soldiers, to make sure they can handle the toughest and most hostile situations in war. Actually, it's only soldiers and elite athletes, who train above and beyond real life demands.

For instance, the Ironman triathlon race consists of 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of cycling and 26.2 miles (full Marathon) of running. But in training, elite Ironman athletes often swim 3-3.5 miles instead of 2.4 miles, cycle 140 miles instead of 112 miles and run 28-32 miles instead of the normal 26.2 miles race distance. They over-train, so they can better handle anything the race may throw at them.

Why is this important?

In the army, our mantra was: "One shot, one kill." There is no room for error and often no time for a second shot.

My engagements' mantra is similar: "One gig, one success."

The military's operation is based on the 5 Ps: Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance.

In reality, far too many consultants and consulting firms live by the 5 Us: Unprepared, Undisciplined, Unaccountable, Uncommitted and Unfocused, operating like cars screeching down the highway in second gear with the handbrake halfway on and puking black smoke in each direction, every mile of the way running themselves closer to final burnout.

Every engagement requires serious investment of resources: Time, people and, well..., money. It only makes sense that we give every engagement the highest chance to succeed, giving you the greatest value and the highest return on investment. Therefore, in every engagement, we enforce the military's Warrior Code...

In the army there is only one way of improving our chances of staying alive and winning: Training and more training. Yes, if you train intensely enough, it can almost kill you. But if you don't, and if you don't get "battle ready", it will almost certainly kill you... sooner or later... in battle. However, this approach is also the ticket to victory.

So, when I work with you, out of respect, I treat your situation as a life and death matter, so I demand a hell of a lot of the engagement team. I do this because after our engagements, life will demand an awful lot from you, and while my demands come with a safety net, in real life the competition treats you pretty ruthlessly trying to scoop up your fair share of success and put you out of business.

Shortly after starting working together, new clients quickly discover that successfully implementing a meaningful change initiative is physically, mentally, and emotionally demanding. For every new client, the shock of leaving a familiar, comfortable, convenient, traditional environment, and replacing personal independence with collaboration with a stranger can cause significant stress and some initial frustration.

You may get sick and tired of my demands and provocative style, but I also hope you recognise that I do it because I care about your success. I would do a disservice to you by letting you "cruise" on your current habits, knowing that maybe some of those habits have contributed to the very situation we want to improve.

You might also think that I play the role of this demanding arse-kicker to feed my own ego. No. I can tell you I had my ego kicked out of me during my military service in the early 80s. I hope you understand that I do what I do because I care, I know it works and I want it to work for you too.

And considering that your competition wants to see your head on a platter and your body quartered and put up on four pikes in the four corners of your city, the more effective the change effort, the less vulnerable your company becomes to your competition.

You shouldn't be too concerned about your initial perceptions. It's true I demand a hell of a lot from clients during my engagements, but in spite of the toughness of the engagements, I treat people with the utmost care and respect. But every change initiative requires behavioural change and that's the hard part. So, in order to see our engagement succeed, we have to go through a rather bumpy ride. Hey, the enjoyment of a happy and healthy baby is preceded by some hard-core labour pains. At least, so I've heard.

But I believe by the time we make some good progress, you will feel good about the overall experience of our collaboration.

You accomplish feats you thought were impossible for you, and develop a sense of pride and confidence in your ability to successfully meet tough challenges to be the best you can be in your chosen profession.

One thought though...

I know at times I may seem to be an arsehole. But not for the sake of being an arsehole. It's for the sake of stretching your thinking about possibilities. It's for the sake of pushing you to a higher level of thinking that will inspire you to take "higher level" actions. This is the only way to achieve excellence.

We all need the independent, constructive insights of an unbiased, professional outsider that include external frame of reference, a new perspective and often a healthy kick in the arse to take action. Without that we end up getting better at what we do, and what we are already doing may well be the very root of our problem we're struggling to solve.

Yes, based upon past success, we repeat the actions which have caused our success. As a result of repeating these actions, we become more effictive at those actions. This leads us to an endless cycle of limited success and increased competency. But there is no exploration, we never try new ideas, and even if we try them and they flop, we quickly dismiss them as bad ideas. But it's not the ideas that are bad but it's only human to flop at anything when we do it the first time aorund.

The winner's curse happens when a company is so good at one thing that it wins big. But when times change, the company just can't stop doing the things that made it so successful in the past. So it keeps doing very efficiently a very ineffective thing. For instance, think of the pre-Gerstner IBM: "We sell mainframes and mainframes alone. The future is in mainframes." Well, at one point it seemed. Then the world changed about IBM didn't. Luckily Lou Gerstner saved IBM from - almost - certain death.

Then we have the loser's curse, when a company fails at something so badly that it never wants to try it ever again even if there are other and better ways to do it that may result in a better outcome. E.g.: We've tried advertising and it didn't work. QED: Advertising is a waste of time and money. In the meantime the competition runs rings around the company through better advertising. So, advertising works.

We all need an external force that pushes us to the next level of performance.

The other caveat...

By now you may even have got the erroneous impression that I'm a smart dude. Stop right now, and consider this interesting fact. Chimpanzees have the largest brains among animals. They are individual geniuses. But as far as their group IQ goes, they are borderline idiots. Baboons, on the other hand, have pretty low individual IQ but very high group IQ. Baboons are great examples of collaboration and creating collegial cultures.

So, our success lies in how well we work together, how well the members of the implementing team interact with each other. Two people, when blending their brainpower in an intellectual melting pot, can make drastically higher quality decisions than either of them can make in isolation.

Completing the first engagement is a significant event, and I hope you will want to share the experience with your peers and colleagues. So, I wish you strength, patience and passion to work with me, so together we can build your dream firm great clients want to do business with and top-drawer talents want to work for.

And here is some housekeeping stuff...

Your (Client's) Bill of Rights

  1. You have the right to receive excellent service delivered in a focused, caring, challenging, ethical and professional manner

  2. You have the right to expect the highest standards, commitment and accountability from my help and support

  3. You have the right to expect to receive a 3-5 times return on your investment

  4. You have the right to work with a trustworthy professional who is mentally, physically and emotionally ready to offer you superb help and support to improve your business

  5. You have the right to have your situation to be treated as top secret and 100% confidential

  6. You have the right to openly discuss errors and shortcomings in my work, and expect me to address and correct them promptly

My (Consultant's) Bill of Rights

  1. I have the right to receive 100% accountability, commitment and dedication from you and the other members of the implementing team

  2. I have the right to receive prompt responses to my communications

  3. I have the right to speak my mind and say what you need to hear, not what you want to or prefer to hear. If there is a conflict between being honest and polite, I have the right to be honest.

  4. I have the right to receive my payment as specified in our agreement

  5. I have the right to receive instant feedback from you whenever you detect errors and shortcomings in my work

  6. I have the right to receive top priority treatment on the engagement from you and your people

Your (Client's) Responsibilities

  1. You have the responsibility, as a professional and as a volunteer, to serve your profession, your company, your people and your clients with honour, loyalty and integrity

  2. You have the responsibility to be proud of your status as a professional on the engagement team, and to demonstrate this through your behaviour. You always act in a dignified but modest manner, and keep your operation neat and organised

  3. You have the responsibility to work on change incentives rigorously and diligently. You maintain your intellectual firepower, physical vitality and emotional empathy, as your most precious weapons, at peak performance at all times

  4. You have the responsibility to treat every engagement as sacred. You implement it to the best of your abilities, and you do anything legal, moral and ethical to see it through to success

  5. You have the responsibility to work as a true team member in a collaborative and collegial manner. You put your ego aside and don't stoop to compete with your own teammates. You will never abandon team members in need and never surrender your professionalism and honour to the quick buck or unfair personal advancement

  6. You have the responsibility, as the ultimate decisions-maker, to act upon what we develop and to achieve the objectives we set out for our engagements. No outsider can do it FOR you

My (Consultant's) Responsibilities

  1. I have the responsibility to help and support you to create a challenging, demanding yet safe and aspiring environment in which the implementing team members are empowered and inspired to do their best work and be proud of it

  2. I have the responsibility to interact with all engagement team members in my "best and brightest" condition, that is, physically rested, mentally alert and emotionally balanced

  3. I have the responsibility to decline to work with your direct competitors to avoid conflict interest

  4. I have the responsibility to provide practical recommendations that result in lasting improvement in your business

  5. I have the responsibility, as an unbiased "guardian of the long term", to prevent you from getting derailed and losing focus from the engagement and giving in to the temptations of shortcuts and the quick buck

  6. I have the responsibility to provide instant feedback both to you and other team members whenever I see an opportunity for improvement or issues that can undermine the initiative's success

  7. I have the responsibility to inform you about breaches of ethical and professional conduct among the implementing team members

Some Thoughts On Engagement Management…

I feel lucky that I've learnt my project management skills in engineering and the military, not in the traditional business environment. Actually do you know that project management is not even part of the business studies curriculum. Not even in MBA programmes. That's amazing. I've found that if I had managed my "projects" in the army and engineering as businesses manage their projects, I would have produced massive destruction and unspeakable amount corpses. Althought the business world is slowly catching up. It's called agile project management.

So, I manage my engagements in my quirky oddball style. I've found over the years that extra precision can't hurt business projects. Although I call it engineering type project management, it falls flat on its arse when the engineering team is under the thumb various political agendas. See various NASA disasters where the suits gagged the engineers, and went ahead at the expense of several lives.

Traditional Business Style Project Management Engineering Style Project Management
Large number of disparate individuals with exactly the same or similar skills often with hidden political agendas and "handshake" agreements Small number of qualified professionals with diverse and complementary skills and with formal agreements
Extensive upfront planning and rigid by-the-plan implementation Little upfront planning and flexible implementation with lots of improvements on the fly
Expediency-driven standards and practices focusing on instant gratification and short-term gain Integrity-driven standards and practices focusing on safety and long-lasting, sustainable result
Conflicting methodologies often based on classroom theory, best-selling books, flavour of the month fads or plain bullshit Well-researched, established and documented methodologies based on empirical engineering and scientific principles
Some abstract and grandiose outcomes after an astronomical investment of time, effort and money Modular approach with specific outcomes at the end of each module
Loosely defined, mainly, lagging (effect) progress indicators Clearly defined, mainly, leading (cause) progress indicators
Random and haphazard deviation from specification through individualism Improved adherence to thorough well defined systems and teamwork guidelines
Being efficient in performing pre-defined tasks and activities wherever they lead to Being effective in achieving the pre-defined outcomes whatever it takes
Every project should go exactly according to plan At some point the shit hits the fan, so we'd better expect it and get ready when it happens
Tactical approach: Using the current people and resources to achieve something... anything... some day Strategic approach: Using whatever it takes to achieve the specific pre-determined obloectives
The project plan is carved in stone and must be implemented exactly to the letter. No deviation is tolerated The project's outcomes are carved in stone and the plan must be flexibly adjusted as necessary to achieve the desired results
Consultants often sweep perceived risks under the carpet to impress clients Consultants openly discuss potential risks with clients and mitigate them as necessary
Start solving a problem by blaming it on someone first, thus covering your arse in case something goes terribly wrong Never seek blame. Seek the cause of the problem and solve it
Clients are always right It's not about who's right or who's wrong. It's about solving problems so they remain solved, offering long-lasting value to the client's organisation
No one is willing to take responsibility for mistakes, so they can look better in each other's eyes Client and consultant are mutually accountable to each other, but the final decision, hence responsibility, lies solely with the ultimate decision maker, the client

I've found that if engineering projects were managed as poorly as business projects, then millions of people would die every day in plane crashes, car accidents, falling buildings, collapsing bridges and other engineering screw-ups.

Some More Caveats... Enter the Gallery of Caveats

Here is some "must know" stuff about working with me. We all have our own idiosyncrasies. I'm no exception. So, it's only fair to tell you that I don't deal in quick fixes and easy solutions. There is no single "magic bullet" for lasting results. I work with people who understand that...

Thanks for your understanding.

The Snowball Effect

Poorly defined engagement vision leads to poorly defined and documented specifications. Poorly defined and documented specifications lead to lame or overzealous scheduling. Lame or overzealous scheduling leads to poor budgeting. Poor budgeting leads to no room for necessary changes.

And all these lead to missing the time frame, going over budget and making a pig's ear of the specifications. I start engagements with this Welcome Letter document to make sure that when clients initiate the engagement, they really and truly buy into the successful completion of the engagement. According to a 1997 survey, conducted by KPMG Canada, consulting projects fail for the following reasons.

  1. Poor project planning. Specifically, inadequate risk management and a weak project plan. Risk management becomes more important as the organization gets bigger, so larger organizations need to pay more attention to this area. What often happens though is that in pursuit the quick buck, some clients want to skip or shorten the planning process and start implementing. But without a plan there is nothing to implement. Also, as a rule of thumb, every one hour of planning can save three hours of implementation time.

  2. Weak business case. There must be a solid business case to initiate the engagement. The initiative must 1) increase revenue, 2) reduce costs and/or 3) avoid new expenses. And these ROI categories must be quantified. Hence the pretty detailed diagnosis.

  3. Lack of client's commitment, involvement and support. After starting the engagement, many clients say, "Do it FOR me but leave me out of it. I'm too busy to get involved." This passive couldn't-care-less attitude usually kills engagements even before they start. Securing buy-in from the top, initiated by a strong business case and backed up with a realistic project plan, is an essential step to get started.

The 1995 Chaos Report by the Standish Group established the following reasons for project failures. Although this is for information technology projects, I believe we can safely use it as a guideline for any kind of project.

Project Kill Factors % of the Responses
1. Incomplete Requirements 13.1%
1. Lack of User Involvement 12.4%
2. Lack of Resources 10.6%
3. Unrealistic Expectations 9.9%
4. Lack of Executive Support 9.3%
5. Changing Requirements & Specifications 8.7%
6. Lack of Planning 8.1%
7. Didn't Need It Any Longer 7.5%
8. Lack of proper Management 6.2%
9. Technology Illiteracy 4.3%

So, to avoid these disasters, we'll be doing lots of documenting to make sure everyone is the same page. I respect your time, money and commitment and want us to deliver the highest ROI for your company.

In the annual revenue range of $50-500 million, only 25% of companies take the time and make the effort to do a detailed ROI analysis before initiating projects. 75% fly by the seat of their pants and hope and pray not to lose their shirts (bras, socks hats and knickers, etc.) in the process.

Project Management Time Commitments

The following table lists the percent of time a people need to commit on any given week to the project based on their assumed roles. Times are cumulative, meaning if a person is both the project manager and a team member, that person needs to commit 75% of the person's total working time to the project.

Role % of time FTE*
Executive Sponsor 10% 4 hours
Project Manager 50% 20 hours
Team Leader 50% 20 hours
Team Member 25% 10 hours
System Administrator 10% 4 hours
Project Advisor 5% 2 hours

*FTE: Weekly full-time equivalent

If you participate in the engagement in any capacity, please adjust your normal working commitments accordingly. For the members, for the duration of the engagement, of the implementing team, this engagement is priority over normal work.

On Documentation

As Kent Beck, the co-author of Extreme Programming explains in his foreword to Alan Koch's book, Agile Software Development...

"Agility in software requires iron discipline."

The only reason jazz musicians can improvise so well and do amazing jam sessions (a.k.a. projects) at the drop of a hat is because they are excellent on the basics, that is, they are perfect on the jazz standards, so when four unknown musicians get together, they can instantly play "Just Wanna Make Love to You" by Muddy Waters or "Red House" by Jimi Hendrix.

During our engagement we exchange several documents that are parts of my engagement management process. For the sake of accuracy, I like documenting everything. I send exact instructions, but if I failed to explain something clearly, please contact me right away and we clarify it. Yes, they take a bit of time and effort to fill in and to keep updated, but for the sake of successful completion, I believe they are vital.

It's a well established rule-of-thumb in project management that every hour of planning shaves off three hours of implementation. It sounds good to me.

The first document is a Feasibility Analysis and the Cost Benefit Analysis. It's for your internal use to build a case for your company to justify the initiative.

After filling it in, return it to me if and only if you decide to proceed with the engagement. This document is the basis of subsequent documents, including a detailed diagnosis and ROI analysis. This may seem a bit cumbersome, but I come from an engineering background, thus I'm big on precision.

Clarification

Please take some time and check whether or not I'm a match for your sales style.... Then consider the following questions before you go any further on the path of engaging external help and support (be me or anyone else). You have to have a pretty solid understanding of your situation before you can explain it to an outsider and ask for help. The more you know about your own situation, the more valuable the external help and support can be for you. So, on to the questions...

  1. Do we really need outside help to make this change happen - what value can we derive from external help?

  2. Are we ready, willing and able to clearly, objectively and richly describe the "whole story" behind our problem?

  3. Can we articulate the value of the change(s) we want to see to happen?

  4. Can we be sure that our assumptions about the issue are not biased or clouded due to our own involvement in the problem itself?

  5. Have we thought through the criteria for a successful solution for this specific issue?

  6. What are the difficult people issues and where will we meet resistance?

  7. Have we considered the cost and consequences of managing any resistance?

  8. Does everyone share our belief that we have a problem - what objective evidence do we have?

  9. What has been stopping us from having already done this? Are we "really" prepared to share these reasons with others?

  10. How will we "know" when our problems are resolved?

  11. Have previous changes delivered sustainable value - what lessons should we learn from this?

  12. What behaviours must we stop to ensure success?

  13. What words will we hear and behaviours will we see to indicate that we have been successful?

  14. What problems might we have in maintaining the change once complete?

  15. Have we become focused with driving a particular solution - are we prepared to look at alternate options?

  16. Are we clear about the forces that may prevent us from sustaining this change initiative?

  17. Do we really have the passion and purpose to see change incentive through to the end (everyone in the organisation - not just some people) ?

So, if there is still an indication that you need external help, whether from me or someone else, let's build a case for your situation. To do that, fill in this Feasibility Analysis and Cost Benefit Analysis, so you can better decide whether or not youi really need external help.

And after filling in this form, you still believe you have a case to go ahead with your planned change initiative, and you think you want to engage my help, then let me know. Hell, we may even have a basis for working together.

In the meantime...

Raise your sights! Blaze new trails! Compete with the immortals!

Tom 'Bald Dog' Varjan

Tom "Bald Dog" Varjan