2. Success Factors for a Consulting Practice
Customer Focus/Quality
Communication/Interpersonal Skills
Execution/Productivity
Team Participation
Innovation and Problem Solving
Leadership/Employee Development
Technical/Functional Skills
Slide 2
3. Success Factors aligns individuals and teams with
strategy in order to achieve business results.
Key Players
for the Future
Right Person in
the Right Job
Succession
Planning
Strategy
Major Business
objectives
Business
Results
Success
Factors
Planning
BU plans
to support
its objectives
Staffing
Performance
Management
Clearly defined
performance
expectations
Leadership
Development
T&D programs
that strengthen
critical skills
Slide 3
4. Goals & Mission
• Work Directly with AEs & BD/Channels in
the Territories to:
• Assist in -DRIVE- the Sales Strategy
- Sales Calls
- Briefings
- Proposals
• Deliver Solutions!
Slide 4
5. The Retention Triangle
The Work
•
Consultants are driven by:
•
•
•
Compensation
The work/assignment
The ability to learn new
skills and technologies
$
Learning
Slide 5
6. The Retention Triangle
The Work
The goal is to create an
environment where the focus of the
consultant is on the challenge of
the work that they are doing and
the constant ability to learn new
skills and Technology.
If the consultant looses focus on
the two non-monetary aspects of
their career, then the next best offer
will win them away!
It is the responsibility managers to
keep the focus:
$
Up and to the Right!
Learning
Slide 6
7. Control Your Own Destiny
Building Blocks Of An
Effective Organization
1.
2.
3.
4.
A sense of urgency
A commitment to excellence
A healthy discontent for the way things are
An appreciation for the awesome responsibility
of leadership
Slide 7
8. If you were going to be accused
of being a Project Manager,
would there be enough
evidence to convict you?
Slide 8
9. Project Management
• EVIDENCE of the 3 C’s and the 3 R’s
3 C’s:
– Command
• Organization
• Roles & responsibilities
• Strategic & Tactical Control
Slide 9
15. The Challenges (1 of 4)
• Technology
• People
• Methodologies
• Personalities
• Hardware
• Biases / Opinions
• Software
• Cultures
• Networks
• Past Experiences
• Data
• Personal Concerns
• Applications
• Professional
• Support
Pressures
• Personal Values
Slide 15
16. The Challenges (2 of 4)
• Budget
• Schedule
• Fixed
• Crisis Situation
• Shrinking
• Lost Opportunities
• Downsizing
• Hard to determine
• Outsourcing
• Harder to track
• ROI
• Hardest to manage
• Cost/Benefit
• Impossible to
• Usually
guarantee
• Willing to spend to
“buy back time”
underfunded
• Unable to fund the
“buy back of time”
Slide 16
17. The Challenges (3 of 4)
• Requirements
• Should be business
•
•
•
•
•
•
driven
Hard to define
Must be tangible
Managed Change
Interdependence
must be clearly
defined
Versionable
BINDING
• Expectations
• May be business
•
•
•
•
•
•
driven
Hardest to define
Intangible, a feeling
Changeable
Interdependence
often unclear
Easily Influenced
NOT BINDING
Slide 17
18. The Challenges (4 of 4)
• Client‟s Business
• Practice Business
• Crisis!
• Quarterly Revenue!
• Changing Strategies
• Product Issues
• Changing Agendas
• Support Issues
• Changing Personnel
• QOL Issues
• Urgent!
• Urgent!
• Resource Issues
• Resource Issues
• Organizational
• Organizational
Issues
Issues
Slide 18
19. The Problem with Projects
• Almost 45% of “large” software
projects will be abandoned prior to
completion
• Risks are proportional to size - the
larger the projects the more hazardous
the probable outcome
• There are many ways to fail and only a
very few ways to succeed
Slide 19
21. Twelve “Success” Attributes
• Capable project
managers
• Capable technical
personnel
• Significant use of
specialists
• Substantial
volumes of
reusable material
Slide 21
22. Successful Project Technologies
• Accurate software
measurement
• Early use of
estimating tools
• Continuous use of
planning tools
• Formal progress
reporting
• Formal architecture
planning
• Formal
development
methods
• Formal design
reviews
• Formal code
inspections
• Formal risk
management
Slide 22
23. Successful Project Technologies
• Formal testing
methods
• Automated design
and specifications
• Automated
configuration
control
• Less than 10% creep
in requirements
• Use of suitable
languages
• Controlled and
measured
complexity
• Significant reuse of
certified materials
• Formal database
planning
Slide 23
24. Unsuccessful Projects Factors
• Excessive schedule
pressure
• Executive rejection
of estimates
• Severe friction with
clients
• Divisive corp.
politics
• Poor team
communications
• Naïve senior execs
• PM malpractice
• Unqualified
technical staff
• Generalists used
for critical tasks:
• Quality Assurance
• Testing
• Planning
• Estimating
Slide 24
25. Importance of Project Managers
• Deficiencies of the project
management function is a
fundamental root cause of software
disaster.
• Excellence in project management can
do more to raise the probability of
success than almost any other factor.
• This factor is common across all
domains of the software industry.
Slide 25
26. Malpractice
• Unaided manual (estimating) methods in
the context of large software systems can
be viewed as “malpractice”.
• Manual planning and estimating of
really large projects is “irresponsible”.
• If software project managers faced the
kind of malpractice litigation that
physicians face, keeping measurements
would be standard practice.
Slide 26
27. Who are our Customers?
• The Consultants
• The Customer
• The „Sales Folks‟
• Your Manager
Slide 27
29. The Practice Manager
• Can Not Be Successful Without:
• An Excellent Sales Team
• Excellent Consultants
• Excellent Customers
• An Infrastructure
• A Excellent Manager
Slide 29
30. Surprises!?!
• Never Surprise the Customer
• Never Let Yourself be Surprised
• Never Surprise Your Manager!
Slide 30
31. The Practice, By the Numbers ...
JULY
Actual
LOCAL CURRENCY (in 000's)
Consulting Revenue
Learning Center
Client Site
ASEP
Self Study
Education Revenue
AR Risk
Net Transfer Revenue
TOTAL REVENUE
Bonuses
Commissions
Training Documentation
All Other COR Expenses
COST OF REVENUE
Payroll
Benefits
3rd Party Consulting
Expense
3rd Party Education
Expense
Temporary Help
Staff Costs
Travel
Travel Reimbursement
Entertainment & Meals
Entertainment & Meals
Reimburse
Net Travel
% of
Budget
Budget
530
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
532
515
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
515
103%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
103%
33
6
0
0
39
33
10
0
0
43
100%
63%
0%
0%
91%
189
35
30
217
49
0
87%
73%
0%
0
0
0%
0
254
11
(1)
1
0
0
266
19
(14)
2
(1)
0%
96%
58%
5%
50%
-2%
11
6
200%
Recruiting
Employee Training
Training Documentation
Relocation
PR/Marketing
Occupancy Allocation
Depreciation
Telephone Expenses
General Administrative
All Other Operating
Expenses
OPERATING EXPENSE
0
1
0
0
0
(10)
3
1
2
0
0
5
0
0
0
2
6
2
1
0
0%
17%
0%
0%
0%
-500%
49%
33%
217%
0%
263
289
91%
TOTAL EXPENSE
302
332
91%
CONTRIBUTION
MARGIN
230
43%
183
36%
126%
122%
2
12
12
2
0
28
2
0
2
30
0
30
0
6
14
11
2
33%
86%
109%
100%
33
3
0
3
36
0
36
0
85%
67%
0%
67%
83%
0%
83%
HEADCOUNT
Associate
Consultant/Educator
Senior
Principal
Total Billable
Managerial Staff
Non-Managerial Staff
Total Non Billable
Total MSTR Headcount
3rd Party FTE Equivalent
Total Adj. Headcount
Slide 31
33. Keep Your Eye on Expenses
• Spend the Money Like it‟s Your Own
• Control What You Can
• Watch What You Can‟t
• Do The Right Thing for Your Folks!
• Consultants Should Think This Way
Also
• Reimbursable Expenses
• It‟s the Customer‟s Money!
Slide 33
40. Excellence
Excellence is ultimately....
persevering when others think the task
is too difficult,
risking more than others think is
healthy,
caring more than many think is prudent,
and
expecting more than others think is
possible.
Slide 41