The IT Consultant : A Commonsense Framework for Managing the Client Relationship
Author: Rick Freedman
List Price: $45.00
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ISBN: 0787951730
Publisher: Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer (February, 2000)
Sales Rank: 50,212
Average Customer Rating: 4.69 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 5 out of 5
No Relationship...No Client
Actually, all of the sound advice in this book is relevant to almost any consulting relationship, both internally and externally. In this sense, the title is somewhat misleading. Freedman offers what the subtitle suggests is a "commonsense framework for managing the client relationship." He organizes his material within three Parts: The Profession of Consulting, The IT Consulting Framework, and Developing Superior Consulting Skills. The consulting profession has undergone all manner of changes in recent years, no doubt the result of many factors which include the increase of outsourcing, the recognition by many organizations of the need for engaging employees as specialists to address specific needs and interests, and also the emergence of what Daniel Pink describes as "free agents" in his recently published Free Agent Nation. As Freedman explains, his book is based on "a few fundamental beliefs": "informational technology consulting is a profession on a par with engineering and architecture...professional standards must be applied once a consultant has accepted a consulting engagement...advisory skills, which enable us to develop relationships of trust and confidence with out clients, are as important to our success as mastery of technical disciplines...[and finally that] there are proven practices and common sense techniques that help consultants deliver the benefit of information technology in a way that would be impossible without us." He examines with rigor various phases of the IT Consulting Framework. Along the way, he generously shares his own experiences (both good and bad) as he established and developed his own client relationships. His objective is to help his readers to understand proven practices that IT consultants can use to define their role in the engagement, and to understand m[as indeed they must] their clients' technical, organizational, and cultural environments.One of the book's many value-added benefits is the provision of four Appendices: Sample Request for Proposal, Sample Proposal, Sample Communications Plan, and Sample Project Plan. Obviously, these are benchmark templates, each of which must be modified (perhaps significantly) to accommodate the specifics of a given situation. The chapters which precede them help the reader to make such modifications.
In the Conclusion, Freedman reaffirms that the book's aim is to prepare consultants, "through the use of a structured delivery system, to help clients obtain the results they expect and so have a better shot at generating the customer satisfaction that leads to referrals -- and ultimately to a thriving practice." I hasten to add that many organizations now have internal consultants for whom this book will also be immensely helpful. They, too, have several "clients" whose satisfaction with the quality of their work determines whether or not they will also have a "thriving practice" within their own organizations.
Rating: 5 out of 5
A Very Usefull Book
I am new to the consulting world, and i found this book to be full of insights and processes that help me to define my role more clearly. Freedman focuses on on the client-consultant relationship and what being a "consultant" really means. it is lighter and easier to read than some other more academic consulting manuals i have picked up, but still packed full of usefull info. i also liked the real life examples he uses, which make the information both easier to digest and interesting to read.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Over-rated
This is a good book - but by no means a classic. It is perfect for its target market - geeks who don't know about business and business value and just want to read a summary of information available from more authoritive sources.Better books include "Managing the Professional Service Firm" or "Secrets of Consulting" by Weinberg.
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Book Index