Here is the another masterpiece that I love. When I read this first I laughed out loudly more because of dibelief. But now after spending couple of years here and actually doing things, I realize that each and every word produced here is sanctomonius, used by consultants worldwide who are perenoids suffering from SYA (Save Your As*) Syndrome!! Do ignore and laugh out of disbelief if you are a client. For others..Enjoy!! (Again this is original by a close freind!!)
The Truths of Consultancy
Analysis
The value of a direct labour hour on Analysis is 6.7 times that on the project.
Machines will always work like clockwork during a machine study
If you have to get up at 3 am to make a key meeting, it will be deferred or cancelled
The major planning and capacity study will finally conclude – that there is no problem with bottlenecks
There is always loads of lost time, but sometimes it is hidden, so well hidden that we can’t find it
The last study you finish on Thursday night will be printed out 5 minutes after the deadline fore the presentation has passed
The last person to go to bed the night before the presentation will get all the difficult questions the next day.
One guest in the hotel will complain about the consultants working at night in the corridors – the Analyst.
Projects
The result is always achieved in completely different areas to those planned
The project will be behind schedule from day 2 to the last day of the project
The results plan will be copied from the previous project
10 weeks into the project, the activities being carried out bear no resemblance to the original plan
The project report file will be nominated for the Booker Prize
If the project requires it, the Operations Manager will expect you to do it – especially if it physically impossible
The project schedule assumes that packs take no time to prepare
When the project team go out to drive performance, productivity and yield will fall
Consultant productivity is 20% before 1:00pm on Mondays, and 250% between 1:00 and 2:30pm on Fridays
A project in real trouble will spend all its time preparing packs and none improving the business
Why is the last place you look for the confidential document you lost where you left it – on the photocopier
When the client tells you it’s the principal, he means it’s the money
You will always be late for the training session on Time Management
The client who finds the calculation error and discredits you for it is the one with a vested interest
Packs
The pack with all your meeting notes is the one you pass to the MD
The preparation of one pack begins as soon as the previous one has been presented
Preparation will then continue till 5 minutes after it is too late for it to be ready for the meeting
All slides that were right first time will be changed at least twice subsequently
The smallest change on one slide (e.g. phase one to phase I) will effect at least 50% of the rest
The colour printer will run out of ink or paper three slides before the final pack is finished
The thickness of the pack is proportional to the trouble the project is in.
The photocopier will never sort in the order required
You will never remember to number the pages until after the packs have been copied
However many times you check, the pack you give the top client will have two page 6s and no page 7
One slide will always have the name of the previous client
The minutes of the meeting will always have the name of the MD spelt wrong
No two people in the meeting will have the same pack
Percentages always add up to 99 or 101, never 100
What we say and what we mean
This is only accelerating work you should be doing anyway: By making you work harder than you’ve ever dreamed.
Look at all the paperwork you’ve got : Now double it. That’s how much you’ll have when we leave
Responsibility for this project is shared: If it goes right, we’ll take the credit. If it goes wrong, we’ll blame your managers
We’ll leave you with a range of tools and techniques to enable you to take the process forward: ut too knackered to do it, so we’ll be back in 5 years
This is a key issue for the business :This is a key issue for the project
The manager of this area is ineffective : We don’t know how we’re going to get savings in this area
We need to create a carefully tailored training package, so we’ve decided to move the training back 2 weeks : The disc of standard training modules is corrupt, so I’ve got to wait for a new one from the office
We need to analyse the observations carefully do evaluate the potential : We can’t find any lost time
We like to look right across the business in every direction: At the direct labour
By week 6 we will have established the correct system for your business
SIC, DWOR, Daily Review, Master Schedule…..
The problems in this business are not technical or particularly complex : If they were, we probably couldn’t spot them and certainly couldn’t solve them
The project will take 30 weeks : Like all the rest
Our costs are inclusive of all costs except office expenses : Like 2 hour peak rate calls to India
We believe that paying weekly focuses the client on the project : We believe that paying weekly enables us to be paid
Opening Meetings – What they don’t say
Will there be any redundancies?
The goals of this project are to find the most effective way to reduce delays and increase customer satisfaction. How this will be done needs to be developed over the coming weeks.
We do not know at present how this is best achieved. Of course
How much do these consultants cost ?
The cost is significant. But the management believe that the cost is justified by the potential benefits to the business.
Well put it this way, for each consultant on the job, we’ll have to get rid of about 8 of you
Why do we need consultants ?
Because, although we understand our business, we want someone to look at it with completely fresh eyes. If you looked at their business, I’m sure you would find opportunities to improve it.
I’m incompetent and they’ve been imposed by head office
Does this mean we’ve got less money to buy new equipment?
No, it is a completely separate budget item. Of course
Why do we need to get better?
.Because everyone needs to get better, all the time. This is just one of the ways we’ll be doing it in the coming years.
Because we’re no good
What can these people do that we can’t
They have a particular way of looking at businesses that we think is of value. However, they are not experts in our business, so the programme will only work if we all work together. Earn vast sums of money without any responsibility
How long will it take?
35 weeks.
Until they’ve bled us dry
How much of my time will this take?
Its hard to define it in detail. Most of the time when they see people they’ll be doing it in their place of work.
Loads, but if you ignore them like I’m planning to it won’t seem too bad
Will they cover all the shifts?
Yes. Yes, but they’ll annoy days most
Why did we choose Rembrandt?
They have proven their skills in both our group and other TOCs. IT was the only way to get their salesman to shut up
Is this time and motion in disguise?
No, the emphasis is on how to make processes work better and how to remove problems, not just on how long it takes to do them.Yes, but they haven’t been trained to do it properly