Clueless consultants - How can you avoid them?

Richard Bejtlich made a point out of clueless consultants today. You know, the type that spends half the time Googling for solutions and answers. The type that believe they can solve all of your problems.

I believe that several reasons for Clueless consultants exists.

• They do not know better
  They are used to work in an environment where they are the ones asked. Usually SME, or smaller companies. Their friends ask them too. And they have never really got challenged by a heavy weight project.
• They believe it is just as easy today as it was 5 years ago.
  5 and 10 years ago just about anyone could be an expert in ICT. 2 weeks training in MS Office could easily give you status as the local IT-resource. Not so anymore. ICT is complex, security has moved in from the sideline and systems has become business critical. It all means you need to target your focus - no one can be an expert on everything.
• They never got told that they do not know better
  Ref the first point above - if you never did a heavy weight project, chances are you may have solved the tasks at hand. And if you did loose a client or two over the years, you probably never cared to ask them why. Nor did your manager, he is too busy with the point two bullets below this one!
• They lack ambitions
  I find a lot of people just accepting their every day life. No ambitions, just working 9-5, get the paycheck and get back to the sofa and tv-set. No ambitions turns you into a robot, not sustainable at all. No will, no goal. No reason to become an expert.
• Their management focus on short-term profit instead of long-term profit
  by making a minimum invoicing rate of 100% the rule, instead of building high-level experts. Yes, I realise not every consulting agency are able to build high-level experts. If you are in the SME space, you need consultants that are able to solve all kind of problems. Still, you will find that investing in experts gives a lot in return: higher hourly rates, happier customers and happier consultants. It also makes recruiting easier, as you can show that working with you means personal development and a career - just stay away from the no-ambitions consultants!
• The customer do not care
  Some customers just do not care. Or worse - they care, but never tells you. They just start looking for other options after a while. Even if your pricetag is so low its hard to beat, the time you spend at the customer can easily be beaten.
• The customer do not realize
  You may also have customers not realizing. It is hard to believe for those who works in the field all day that there are a large amount of people out there not understanding the technology. How can you expect a person who do not understand what is going on to realize the consultant have noe clue?

How can you deal with clueless consultants?

If you are the manager, you need to wake up and realize the future of ICT belongs to the experts. Make sure you help your consultants realize what is important. Make sure your company cares about your customers, and that you focus on helping the customer. Make sure you create an environment where your consultants can develop and increase their skills, and where they can develop into experts in their areas of interest. Give the consultants a clear view of how they can work together to solve the issues of customers, and give them incentives to use each others competences.
Of course - make sure that the interest of the company is the interest of your consultants too - or you risk loosing them soon.

If you are the customer - make sure you can QA the work of the consultant. Consider hiring a 3. party project manager, or QA consultant. Or develop your own skills to understand what is going on. Do your math - is it better to pay 10 hours at $20, or 3 hours of $50? Ask the consultant - can you do everything I need? If yes, sack him. If he says he can arrange for it, then hire him!

Do you have a clueless consultant story to share? How do you detect a clueless consultant? Ever needed to fire one? Do you have other reasons why Clueless consultants are so widely available?