Trail's End

The heart of the matter. Do don’t know what it is until you’ve done it. You don’t understand why it is hard, until you’ve done it internationally.

The crack cast of How We Manage Stuff prepares to depart for Germany. At one level, the problem is simple. A small German logistics firm needs some help. It’s a drama of course. But dramas are good at the exposing the heart of the matter. Almost as good as doing it yourself.

How do you begin a consulting job?

In thunder, lightening or in rain?

It is chaotic at the start. You move to new offices, meet new people and start to appreciate new responsibilities. Our podcast has been hired by a German firm – a logistics provider to the coffee industry – to review their software systems and make recommendations. They arrive on site, after a long flight, and quickly discover that they did not fully appreciate the environment in which they would have to work.

You don’t, and that”s the point.

None of know what we are doing when we going into a new organization.  We don’t know the history.  We don’t know the power structure.  Sometimes, we don’t even know the goals.  (And this will lead us to one of the key questions of this series: “Who are Leena and Klara?”)  Occasionally , we don’t even know ourselves.

Our podcast consulting team has beens starting work in Hamburg.  Anna’s replacing a key staff member and thinking about the future.  Trouble is, she does not know all that the client is thinking and might not know what to do if she did.

Second episode in a series on the ins and outs of tech consulting.

You don’t, and that”s the point.

We have a company. We have a consulting team. And we believe we have a client, though it would seem that the client is not sure that he would have us. Days after the HWMS team arrived at BKL, it’s owner decided to go hiking in the Swiss Alps. It could be the confidence of a secure leader. It could be a brilliant strategy to get a new perspective on the business. It could also be a poor choice by a misguided manager. We take a moment to get the owner’s point of view as he walks with his friends in the Alps.

A short episode to give us a little insight into the challenges of tech consulting.

You don’t, and that”s the point.
It’s the contract that holds you together. Not your history. Not your friendship. Not anything else.

The contract. Offer. Acceptance. Consideration. That’s it.

And what does that paper mean when things start moving fast, when you jump from one meeting to the next?

And what does it mean when the client, or perhaps a representative of the client, has ideas? Where does the contract end?

Fourth episode in a series on the ins and outs of tech consulting.

Consulting.  You’re just giving your opinion.  That’s it.  Nothing more.

Now, in theory, that opinion is worth something on the open market.  It’s worth something for two reasons.  First, you have some special training or knowledge.  Second, you have data.  Data about what is happening.

And there’s the rub.  In the modern day and age, we collect ever bit of data we can and call it good.  Yet.  Yet.  Yet.  Data can mislead.  It can make you believe you know something when you don’t It can confuse when it should inform.  Therefore, we need to know something about gathering data scientifically

Fifth episode in a series on the ins and outs of tech consulting.

A business owner.

A group of good friends. And an underlying controversy that simply won’t go away.

Florian Bohne, the owner of Bohne Coffee Logistics is holding a party in the Swiss Alps while his friends believe that he should be back with his company.

So we have a fight, a disagreement among friends.  Yet it is a disagreement that seems to be about one thing – how Florian is dealing with consultants – while it is really about something deeper, more profound.

Sixth episode in a series on the ins and outs of tech consulting.

When do they make the mistake?

When do they make a decision that limits – radically limits – options?

Our consulting team is working on a project that is only stumbling forward in the best of light.  So what has happened, we ask.  Has someone made a mistake?

Has our team done something wrong?  Has the client chosen the wrong strategy?  Have the managers failed to support the work?  Any one of these might constitute the “Fatal Mistake.”

Seventh episode in a series on the ins and outs of tech consulting.

If they wanted the same thing, then the decision would be easy.

But they don’t.

So it isn’t.

Our drama probes the decision making process in this episode.  It uncovers two, maybe three, sharp disagreements.  A split in the family.  An employee with her own agenda.  A consultant trying to do his best and to control the noise of the discussion.

Eighth episode in a series on the ins and outs of tech consulting.