Consulting 101 for data engineers
At Data Minded, we are data engineers first and foremost. But in reality, we do a lot of consulting. What is consulting really? I recently gave an internal talk about Consultancy at Data Minded and I thought it would make sense to share my thoughts publicly. I’m curious about your feedback. Leave it in the comments!
Why does the world need consulting in the first place?
Consultants get a lot of criticism for charging a lot of money and not really making a big difference. And that’s not a complete lie in some cases. :-)
But then, why does the world need consultants? Well, it’s actually really simple.
For everything you do in life, you can trade-off between build and buy.
Things you typically build:
- Your day job. You invest a lot of your your time into your job.
- Raise kids. Very few people outsource this
- Meal Prep. Most people cook their own food every night
Things you typically buy:
- Education: You probably went to school. You buy the time of a teacher to educate you, instead of learning everything yourself.
- House / car / clothes / stuff: You probably don’t build any of this yourself
- Food and ingredients: Not a lot of people raise their own crops. They go to the supermarket.
The same is actually true every time you need to make a decision.
Things you typically decide yourself (build):
- What to wear
- Where to live
- Which sports you like
You don’t need a consultant to decide these things for you. It’s personal preference. While, there are decisions that you outsource (buy):
- Should I get this medical treatment? You typically ask your doctor to make that decision for you.
- Which bike should I buy? Often, you consult an expert who can recommend the perfect bike for you based on your needs
- Organise finances You typically work with a banker or an accountant or a financial advisor to arrange your pension saving plan, house mortgage and other financial decisions.
What is consulting?
After some consideration, I came up with the following definition. Which, at least for us, is relevant.
Let’s break this definition down step by step.
Enabling your client…
Engineers can have a strong focus on their tools and skills. Sometimes that focus is an obsession. Stop the navel-gazing. Instead, become a customer-focused professional. You are there to enable the client, not to run your personal pet project with a technology you like. It’s important here that the client pays you for the advice you bring. This is not some random conversation in the bar. Or a random hackathon on the university campus. They say free advice is worth every penny.
Consulting pro tips
- Listen and build understanding. It’s not about you, it’s about them. We need to solve for their needs. Focus on their objectives.
- Act like a pro. They pay for your services. Show up on time. Prepare a meeting. Be constructive in your conversations. Give them the feedback they need to hear, not what they want to hear.
- Take ownership of their success. You win if and only if they win. In the end, it doesn’t matter what your advice was. It’s about the impact you create.
… To make better decisions …
Most clients of consultancies work in a complex landscape. They all aim to improve and grow their organisation but the path to success is not always clear. There are many different stakeholders, different teams, each managing their own budget, with aspiring visions and objectives. Yet at the same time, there are technology challenges and market pressures.
Consulting pro tips
- Give them options and explain the impact. It’s the client who decides. It’s their world, they are in control. As a consultant, it’s your job to give them options, explain the impact of those options, and then make a recommendation.
- Put client interest ahead of your own. We aim to improve their world. All other concerns are secondary. It’s a massive cliche, but it’s important.
- Document your decisions and the reasoning. Many decisions are made over time. Sometimes you forget why a decision was made. A written log of decisions help.
… By applying expertise …
A client hires you for the expertise you have in a certain area. You don’t wake up as an expert in something one day. It grows on you over time. Here, I like the Flywheel Effect from Jim Collins. He used it in the context of business success. But it’s also applicable to becoming an expert in something. Make a step forward, see visible results accumulate, get energised by the results, build more momentum and learn more.
Consulting pro tips
- Stay curious. You build expertise by applying it. Every client, project and role is different. Learn from every engagement.
- Keep an eye on the bigger picture. Sometimes you need to nudge yourself in the right direction. If you see a new trend coming your way, dive in head first and learn everything you can learn about it.
- Make your agency a great environment for learning. One of the coolest aspects of Data Minded is that we have a great mix of incredible data talent in one place. We always encourage people to proactively seek advice from their peers. Encourage this in your organisation as well.
… And building trust.
We are all humans. Even though we’re deep into technology. Decisions are being made by humans. Products are being built by humans and used by humans. Solutions are created collaboratively.
- Radiate your expertise. Clients cannot assess your skills. That’s why they hire you in the first place. If they knew how to do this, they probably wouldn’t hire you.
- Apply Pyramid Thinking. What you do, is probably complex. Structure your thoughts. Clients need clear communication. A good help here, is the Pyramid Principle.
- Be yourself. There is plenty of book knowledge. Clients look for opinionated viewpoints. Don’t be an undifferentiated drone army.
Conclusion
That’s it. That’s what’s consulting is about. Nothing more, nothing less. Seems simple. Yet I see so many mistakes made against it. Also at our own organisation. Consulting in itself is a skill that you need to learn over time. You don’t wake up being a great consultant all of a sudden.
I hope this was helpful. Can you relate? Do you experience it the same way? Let me know in the comments.
