As a software development consultant (or any consultant for that matter) you’re probably getting paid by the hour and even you’re getting a flat salary, the consulting company you work for is charging for your time by the hour. That means that alongside writing code and running a project one of your main objectives should be to constantly find additional work that you can bill for, because without that you can’t pay the bills. The problem is that nobody is paying you when you’re spending your time pitching new ideas to the customer. To make matters worse you’re probably also struggling to come up with ideas that you can pitch. The reason for that is because you’re an outsider to the company you’re consulting for. You’re not an employee and you most likely work remotely. It means that you don’t spend much time with them in person. It also means that you’re not there when they’re discussing operational problems. You’re not there when they’re dealing with their own customers. So you’re sitting alone, a million miles away, trying to come up with grand ideas and solutions to problems that you’re not even aware of. I’m sure that you have a few tricks up your sleeve from past experience and that’s probably how you got the project in the first place. However, you’re going to run out of tricks sooner or later and the work will eventually dry up.

On the other hand, if you have any experience in consulting you will have noticed that some projects have a beginning and an end while others seems to continue to eternity. Why is that? I believe the answer is quite simple: the projects that seem to never end are the ones where the customer has a good analyst working for them. The business/system’s analyst job is to continuously look for ways of improving processes to make things more efficient and unlike you, he is present (or should be present) in all operational meetings. The analyst also has close relationships with several of his colleagues in multiple departments within his company. So while you’re sitting there alone at home trying to dream up ideas, the analyst is having lunch with the COO who happens to be bitching about some operational issues, or maybe he’s having smoke break with a worker who wants to pull their hair out because the system is too slow, too difficult to use or missing a feature. The analyst will then make a mental note of all these issues and go back to his desk to come up with a solution. He will then call you up and ask whether his solution is technically possible and how much it will cost to implement. Finally he will present it to the rest of the stakeholders and tell them that the solution can be easily implemented by people like you. The analyst will do all these things because his job depends on him identifying and solving problems. In doing so, the analyst is basically your salesman without being even being on your payroll. This is how you end up with a never-ending project and a steady supply of work coming your way.

The moral of the story is that you should always try and find customers that have a great analyst. I would also advise you to maintain a good and healthy relationship with this analyst. On the other hand, if you’re a business leader you would do well to hire yourself one or more analysts who should constantly be looking to push the boundaries of your processes and your company … and if they’re not doing that it means you’re wasting your money on them. I cannot overstate the importance of having a great analyst and the value that they bring to any organisation.