Thinking about the client/consultant relationship

What is it that attracts some people to consulting; either as consultants or as clients? And what is it that makes or breaks a successful consulting engagement? Awareness of one's own skills and limitations is key.

We will discuss the importance of knowing your (and your client's) levels of competence and ignorance. Though often not the intent, these words, competence and ignorance, have come to have negative connotations in our society. Negative connotations aside, competence and ignorance are useful if not essential considerations when looking at client/consultant dynamics and communication patterns. And successful communication leads to successful engagements.

Using a series of "pattern languages" to analize frequently encountered aspects of consulting (people, communication, requirements, estimation, implementation, quality, delivery and deployment) we will lay out techniques for building self awareness of your consulting skills.

Andrew Miller With 20+ years of software development experience Andy Miller's expertise is both technical and organizational. Though he started his computing career using TECO macros to translate programs from PL/1 to VAX basic, today his work most often focuses around the java platform.

Andy received a B.A. in computer science from Gustavus Adolphus College and an M.S. from Kent State University. He lives in St. Paul, MN and works as a Principal Consultant at Object Partners in Minneapolis where he helps clients throughout the region with software development, technical team leadership, development process re-engineering, and mentoring. His professional interests include the clear articulation of system requirements, architectures, designs and code using object technologies and methods; avoiding nasty surprises; and getting the job done.

Further Reading:

* Flawless Consulting: A Guide to Getting Your Expertise Used, Peter Block.
Addresses the process of consulting distinct from the domain in which you are consulting.
* Crystal Clear, A Human-Powered Methodology for Small Teams, Alistair Cockburn.
This is both a great software process reference, and a wonderful example of multi-leveled discussion of information (defined, explained, examined, ...).
* The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Edward Tufte.
Along with Tufte's later books, this is an excellent reference for thinking about how information is displayed and perceived.
* The Timeless Way of Building, Christopher Alexander.
An excellent read and a great way to get into the "thinking about thinking about things" place!