Consulting - Order In The House

5 Ways to Avoid The Illusion of Agreement

What every Salesforce Partner should know

Illusion: Macmillan Dictionary: “an appearance or effect that is different from the way that things really are”.

Finding out a project team had the illusion of agreement for a core portion of scope can be devastating for the team, client and project. It breaks trust immediately, like a resounding door slam.

Oftentimes this starts with interpretations of certain words. Most often it occurs because assumptions are made and insidious change occurs. The illustration below humorously shows how different stakeholders understand a swing (as a metaphor for a software implementation).

The conflicting assumptions, expectations and interpretations are the core to the illusion of agreement.

In my twenty-five years of project experience, I’ve learned to stay in front of potential assumptions. Additionally, when I managed a consulting PMO, I made it a point to counsel the project managers to do the same. Because the alternative, when the project turns red, erodes trust between the client and the consulting company. And people spend days and days working through the issues.

Below are the top 5 areas where I’ve seen the “illusion of agreement” in my own career. And what to do to lessen the potential for different interpretations between your company and the client.

1 The illusion: Key stakeholder’s opinion of the project scope

SCENARIO: Early in my consulting career a new key stakeholder (new hire) was introduced to the project at midpoint. She didn’t attend discovery sessions (despite escalations), and when she finally showed up for a large meeting, she found the project’s scope did not include some of her department’s goals. Let’s just say it was not a fun meeting after that realization. And there were a couple of weeks of challenges.

HOW TO AVOID: Map the client’s business outcomes/goals to project goals. These should come from the project sponsor and/or key stakeholders. Must be documented and signed off. Then review them in detail with any new stakeholders as the project continues.

2. The illusion: All client documents are in scope

SCENARIO: I’ve seen client project team members share a boatload of documentation into a shared drive. They assumed everything they gave us was in scope, even if stated in the SOW that something was out of scope and was also outlined as out of scope in the kickoff meeting.

HOW TO AVOID: Maintain a client document log, and map them to the scope (simple spreadsheet) If out of scope, state that. Review this document with the project team.

3 The illusion: User Stories are locked down vs User Stories can evolve

SCENARIO: I’ve seen this occur when the consultants assume the user stories are not being edited after approval. And the client team assumes it’s okay to edit stories throughout the project so they meet their needs.

HOW TO AVOID: Establish the Definition of Ready and Definition of Done for User Stories early in your project.

4. The illusion: A complex technical specification is misunderstood by a client

SCENARIO: A client signs off on a Tech Spec, the solution is delivered and they’re very unhappy with the result.

HOW TO AVOID: Every Technical Specification should include a description of what is being coded in layman’s terms. The spec should also include diagrams (wireframes are good). And always Include assumptions and and out of scope sections. Finally obtain a sign-off on the document.

5 The Illusion: How functionality should look and work

SCENARIO: Something most consultants notice is many of their clients need to see a visual of the functionality to understand it. I’ve seen sprint demos save the day to obtain alignment or if not aligned, you’re at an earlier stage to address it more quickly.

HOW TO AVOID: Do demos in every sprint. Record the demos and share the recording.

I hope these items help you and your team to proactively stay in front of project assumptions.

If you’re interested in learning more, please contact me at [email protected]

WHAT EVERY SALESFORCE PARTNER SHOULD KNOW:

If your project methodology is a 1 pager, expect red projects

Ask yourself how much depth is there in your company’s project methodology.

A one pager is perfect for Sales decks, but your Delivery team needs more comprehensive material. All team members need to know what is expected of them, what quality looks like and aids in the access of related material.

I worked with a large firm where there was a 1 page Project Methodology. Each partner could interpret what was done within each sub phase. The firm was growing and increasingly staffers from different areas were assigned to projects. Each of the team members had divergent expectations of what should be done. As a result there were misunderstandings as to who does what, what a deliverable should include and what meetings should take place. Clients began to see the disarray. And projects began to creep into the red territory.

In a PMI white paper, Sean Whitaker writes, “a project management methodology is a defined, documented and discoverable set of policies, practices, processes, tools, techniques and templates that provide guidance on how projects are run within an organization”. It is not a one pager.

Salesforce partners must invest in a document and in depth methodology. It will drive consistency throughout your entire practice. Staff members will have more confidence as new teams form for each new project. They will know what to expect of their colleagues and the methods. And most importantly, your clients experience a smoother project of high quality.

A project methodology should include the following:

Details of each sub phase
Meetings
Deliverables
Specific workstream information
Links to templates
Describes how quality is baked into the methodology
And finally, there is a formal training program

The materials for the elements above must be well organized. Each echoing what other areas have already established. Your sales literature should also echo what is established, this includes your SOW templates.

In closing, an in depth methodology is a crucial tool in ensuring the success of your delivery practice.

If you are interested in a free health check of your project methodology, contact me at [email protected]

5 ways to retain consultants in Professional Services

Consulting practices typically have high employee turnover, and this industry is not untouched by the Great Resignation, at term coined by Dr. Anthony Klotz, an organizational psychologist. Much has been written about The Great Resignation, one key reason why people resign, which is common to all types of professional services, is burnout. In an interview with Verse, Dr. Klotz, described several key elements. In describing one of them, he said, “Another factor is burnout; people are emotionally exhausted. It’s a strong predictor of quitting, which makes sense, because the only cure for it is taking a break and replenishing who you are.”

Burnout in consulting typically occurs when the staff are working long hours for a while; 60-80 hour weeks are very common, especially when deliverables are due. Dig deeper into the cause for long hours, and they frequently stem from troubled projects.

“Project management problems become increasingly deadly as a professional services business grows”.
Geoff Mcqueen, Entrepreneur Magazine

When a consultancy is in its first few years, the focus is on bringing in revenue and logos. To make payroll, decisions may be made to take on very risky projects. In Entrepreneur Magazine, Geoff Mcqueen writes, “Project management problems become increasingly deadly as a professional services business grows. While securing bigger and better projects and expanding the business feels great, growth also puts the business more at risk if not managed carefully.”

In my experience in managing PMOs and projects, I’ve seen consultants work long hours on challenging projects. They burnout. In addition there are unhappy clients, and unhappy managers. For the burnt out consultant, it makes it easier for them to answer that Linkedin ping from a recruiter when having a bad day.

Many factors go into quitting a job. More money isn’t always the top priority. Consultants want stable and rewarding projects. The foundation of stable projects are a detailed methodology, templates, training and ongoing coaching.

If you are in a leadership position in a Consulting Practice, ask yourself the questions below, followed by this key question:
“If we had the items below, would we have less retention issues?”

5 elements to keep projects stable (and consultants happier)

Methodology
- Is your methodology beyond a single page or single diagram?
- Do you have details regarding each sub phase?
- Do the details include what meetings must take place, deliverables, roles and responsibilities, and best practices?
Templates
- Do your consultants use what they have used in the past?
- Do people in the same roles deliver differently?
- Are your templates in a central repository?
- Do you have templates for all sub phases? And does the content and language echo each other?
- Do your templates have consistent branding and formatting?
Detailed Best Practices
• Do you have these for each role places on projects?
• Do you have these for the different areas of your practice?
• Do you have the basics, such as User Story Writing, and core definitions?
Training program
- Do you have training program for:
  - Staff new to the company (solid practitioners, but need to know how “your company” does it)?
  - Staff new to consulting (college grads, or even those changing careers)?
  - Staff new to the role (promoted staff)?
Does your sales collateral (decks and SOW template) match the delivery methodology and templates?

If you answered no to even half of the questions, consider focusing on them. Consultants want rewarding projects for their clients and themselves. When a consultancy provides the foundation for this, you will reap the benefits. Contact me at [email protected] if you’d like more information on how to enhance your foundational project assets.

Insidious revenue leakage in PSOs

Revenue leakage is insidious. It’s hiding in your data.

When looking at utilization it always affects the company’s profitability. This occurs at PSOs (Professional Services Organizations) of all sizes, however when automated tools are not in place or don’t talk to each other, you don’t know what you don’t know. It’s difficult to find the issues.

The symptoms of revenue leakage include: taking on debt to make payroll, consultants are not available when you expect them to be free for new projects and your managers spending countless hours trying to figure out the issues which ends up superseding sales or delivery work. And this compounds your profitability concerns.

PSA (Professional Services Automation) tools that can show the baseline forecast of both a consultant and a project, their actuals and the consultant’s goals, go a long way to help you uncovering issues. It keeps your managers out of spreadsheets and more engaged with underlying data, so they can prevent profitability issues.

Not every consultancy is ready to invest in a PSA. However uncovering revenue leakage is a core competency of all PSOs.

Some initial items you can investigate are:

What is the utilization rate (in hours) for a given staffer per week?
What is their week-to-week billing hours?
In newer consultancies, many people are a “jack/jill of all trades”. So they’re doing both sales and delivery. This should be part of your review, in what are they doing to bring profitability to the company.

Overall, depending on where you are in your journey as a PSO, your utilization rates will change. The good news, as long as you can obtain the data, you can uncover the issues.

Interested in learning more for your professional services organization? Contact me at [email protected]