How to be a good consultant-Principle 2 of 7

7 principles of Professional Services

Being a Consultant is not an easy job and there is a reason why Consultants are handsomely paid.

When a team hires an external Consultant, they expect that they provide more value than their own team members. A consultant carries this burden of high expectations on his shoulders throughout the time of their engagement.

Anyone who wants to become a Consultant must read “The Seven Principles of Professional Services” by Shane Anastasi. I was lucky that I got referred to this book by one of my colleagues.

These 7 principles now act as a constant reminder to help me become more valuable with my services.

I would highly recommend buying this book and reading it multiple times. (Please note that I am not affiliated with this book. These are my personal opinions)

In this story, I have noted down key takeaways for the 2nd Principle from the book which says “Always Know What Done Looks Like”. This in no way covers all the important points mentioned in the book. I have only noted down the ones that are most relevant from my point of view.

Principle 2: Always Know What Done Looks Like

Focus Area: Delivering engagements successfully

The Contract is the first version of the definition of Done

As a consultant, the first task that you should be doing is reading “the statement of work” or “work order” to understand the defined objectives for the engagement.

Change is fine but it has to be assessed and managed correctly

Although the contract is the first definition of what Done looks like, as a consultant you must confirm the contract’s scope against the customer’s desired business outcomes. You should be flexible to consider the change but at the same time, you should follow appropriate change management procedures.

Is the Definition of Done given by the customer really correct?

It may be possible that although the customer has clearly defined what they want to achieve, they won’t be truly successful in spite of those objectives being met.

Since you as a consultant are the expert, you should advise the customer if you feel that their wants and needs are misaligned.

Your responsibility goes far beyond merely executing the customer’s demands.

Customer Acceptance

At the end of the engagement, the customer will assess your work and compare it against what was agreed. There is a strong possibility that the customer may not precisely agree with what you consider “done” even though it exactly matches what was contracted.

If the difference between the expected and actual results is wide, it will be extremely hard or impossible to fix in the given timeframe.

To avoid this from happening:

• Showcase your work frequently — Demonstrate your work on a regular and consistent basis. Any misalignments will be caught much early in the cycle and will be easier to fix.
• Customer-written acceptance tests — You should always ask the customer to provide you with the acceptance tests.

Read about the next principle here: