Ash Versus Consulting

Ash Versus Consulting

Ash Winter (somewhat grizzled veteran)You may remember me from such clients as:William Hill, OpenBet, HML, Just Eat, Callcredit, Medisoft, Ash and Tonys Group Hallucination in Gibraltar.I really like:Agility, incredulity, helping people to be better than me.

This Talk - Five WhysConsulting is an experiential game.Consulting deals with the infinite variety of life which exists out there.Consulting is about people, people generate variety with their behaviour.People appear inherently irrational, all of us, especially you.We appear irrational as we all have different needs, often all at the same time.

My Consulting ManifestoProblem solving over solution sellingQuestioning progressively over maintaining the status quoBuilding partnerships over supplier agreementsDealing with root causes over treating symptoms

That is, while there may be some value in the items on the right, I value items on the left more

A Note of CautionWhat I am about to present is advice.A form of nostalgia, fished from whatever part of my brain it fell into, picked up, dusted off and presented to you today.It is an oracle and what do testers know about oracles?Inductive reasoning is fallible, just because this stuff happened in the past is no guarantee of it occurring again.

Without any further ado.In no conscious order, my dirty dozen top tips, things to understand or be mindful of when consulting

#1 The Agent ProblemYou are an agent.Beware! The client knows this.The client and the agent do not have exactly the same aims.

#2 There are 3 kinds of powerRole PowerRelationship PowerExpertise Power

In a consulting capacity you have very little role power, you actually spend your consulting life very exposed, so youd better get good at the other two!

#3 Concerning the Past(Most) Decisions made in the past seem absolutely crazy as they were made for reasons that (probably) no longer matter.

Dont dwell, darkness lies down that road, you cannot change past decisions.

#4 Testing Skill > Domain KnowledgeThe Knowledge Dart does not exist.Domain knowledge gives you power, but it is transient and unreliable.Clients can smell a weak paradigm of testing in a consultant.

#5 Be T-Shaped & Say I want to help*

*A little secret, there are have buildings full of people who say no to stuff all the time. If you play this role too, you are merely providing more of what the client already has. Be different.

#6 Get To Know The Little GuyI often hear get to know the C-Suite/ExecSome value there but practically speaking to enact change, they are pretty toothless in large organisations.To really get somewhere, get to know the little guy.

#7 Get to Know Your Client TypeThere are 3 key types I have encountered:Overtly show no interest in advice or guidanceGenuinely interested in advice or guidanceAppear genuinely interested in advice or guidance but secretly hate you for it

#8 You are in a VacuumClients have vacuums to fill. Expand to fill them.Ive been a Tester, Team Lead, Scrum Master, Product Owner, Business Analyst, Data Analyst, Sys Admin, DBA, Performance Tester, Project Manager, Site Lead, Account Manager and so on.

#9 Dont Overestimate Local KnowledgeClients (generally) know about the bit they work on/in/for.You (generally) cannot rely on existing silos to get things done.

#10 Beware the Pickling Process"Cucumbers get more pickled than brine gets cucumbered."NEVER forget you are being paid for by the day, when it comes to the crunch the client will not.

#11 The Name of the Thing is not the ThingMy favouriteAll kinds of clients call all kinds of stuff all kinds of other stuff.Forget what they call it, what IS it?

#12 How Do I Know When Im Done?Simple, when they dont need you anymore.Some clients need you more than others, after nearly 3 years, Im working on that one with Callcredit.

People to Learn FromJerry WeinbergPeter BlockPeter DruckerMarshall RosenbergDan NorthCem Kaner

Johanna RothmanJohn WhitmoreRachel DaviesBob MarshallEsther DerbyAlan Weiss

FinallyGoing on site totally rocks. Any site.Nothing gives me a greater buzz than finding a gnarly problem and helping a team to solve it. If youve not done it, I recommend it. Learning accelerated many times over.

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