All Hail the IT Consultant!

by Matt Wickey

Ok, it’s time for me to share a little. For the record, all my sharing will be of a professional nature so don’t get too excited.

Several years ago, after leaving a company I’d called home for nearly 10 years, I found myself back in the job market trying to figure out how to sell myself. My career path had followed a rather common trajectory: a degree in Computer Science, years spent working as a software developer, a natural progression into positions with more responsibility (systems analysis, project management, team lead, etc.). This all had played out at a number of companies in a variety of industries.

But, once back in the job market, I was asked the same vexing question by prospective employer after prospective employer:

What is it you want to do?

To me the answer was self evident—I want to do more of what I’m good at! I want to create software that solves problems or automates essential activities. I want to understand business processes so well that I can design systems to model them concisely. I want to focus on the big picture and not get bogged down in the details. I want to be technical…but not too technical. I want to make meaningful decisions, hard choices, set direction and get paid lots of money!

I want to be an IT Consultant!

But what, you may ask, does it mean to be an IT consultant? Given that this is now my career of choice, it would stand to reason that I can answer that question in some detail. My ideas about the skills necessary to be a successful IT consultant are listed below. Perhaps yours are the same.

• Technical Competency – For the IT consultant this often means ability to program. Most of us in IT have, at one time or another, written a stored procedure or a “for” loop.

  But, strangely, programming skills are not 100% required. Some of the best consultants I’ve worked with were not originally software developers, but they did possess other necessary competencies (business analysis, design, knowledge of a vertical, etc.). To be an IT consultant you have to be able to talk the talk and walk the walk, but the path you follow does allow for variation.

• Business Analysis – Most consultants need to be able to define systems or components. What’s more, much consulting includes interviewing customers and gaining an understanding of their problem space and needs.

  This is business analysis—taking raw data, relating it, evaluating it and turning it into useful artifact(s) such as text documents, diagrams, prototypes, etc. that convey captured business needs to stakeholders. In essence, a business analyst must be able to create a shared vision, between customer and developers, of a problem and proper solution.

• Project Management – This really is where the rubber meets the road. A project manager must take all the requirements and designs created by the business analyst, put together a team that can do the work, create a plan that identifies all necessary activities, and execute! All of this has to be done while managing risk with an eye on budget. Without able project management, the best designed systems will fail to achieve requirements, schedule, cost and/or quality goals.
• Business Development – While designing and implementing systems is important, so too is the ability to find new customers and opportunities. This can take a number of forms including sales activities, writing statements of work, raising a company’s public profile and networking. It pays to remember that without business development there will be no revenue for everyone to share. Frequently IT consultants are required to help generate business and implement solutions.
• Relationship Management – Consulting projects are performed within the confines of consulting engagements. And the best outcome for consulting companies and customers alike is that engagements have a lifespan beyond individual projects possibly turning into long term relationships.

  For this to happen, customer relationships must be nurtured and matured. Projects need to be estimated, proposals written, pains soothed, and stakeholder needs met. Follow-through is all too often overlooked by IT consultants—one has to be be able to take projects through to satisfactory completion for all parties. This falls under relationship management, which is the process by which consultants can become a “trusted partner” for their customers. This is the stuff they don’t teach IT people in school, yet it is an essential part of an IT consultant’s toolbox.

• Influence – Another “soft” skill like relationship management, the ability to positively influence customers is key to being successful as an IT consultant.

  This may sound kind of smarmy, as if we’re trying to play a mind-control game. But, in fact, it’s not smarmy at all. Customers hire consultants to get the benefit of their knowledge and experience. Given that, it is critical for consultants to not only present that knowledge but positively influence decisions in the best interest of the customer. This is the action side of the “trusted partner” relationship between consultant and customer.

While I’m sure this list could be extended further, it does represent a comprehensive list of the skills we employ everyday at Stout.