{"id":341,"date":"2020-08-18T19:23:47","date_gmt":"2020-08-18T20:23:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.linux-tutorial.info\/?page_id=77"},"modified":"2020-08-22T19:25:59","modified_gmt":"2020-08-22T20:25:59","slug":"this-is-the-page-title-toplevel-174","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.linux-tutorial.info\/?page_id=341","title":{"rendered":"Consultants"},"content":{"rendered":"\nConsultants<\/title>\n<p>\nYou may someday find yourself in a position where you cannot continue to try\nto solve problems over the phone. You need someone to come to your office to\nlook at the problem first hand. This is where the computer consultant comes in.\nSometimes consultants are called in to evaluate and analyze the current\nsituations and make recommendations and sometimes even implement these\nrecommendations.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nComputer consultants are like lawyers. They often charge outrageous fees\n(several hundred dollars an hour) and rely on the fact that you know little or\nnothing about the subject. They have a service that you need and want you to pay\nas much as you are willing to pay. Fortunately, all you need to do to see\nwhether a lawyer is qualified is to look on his or her wall. If the diploma is\nfrom Joe’s Law School and Barber College, you’ll probably go somewhere else.\nHowever, there are few laws governing who can call himself a computer\nconsultant. Therefore, you need to be extra careful in choosing a\nconsultant.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nI had one consultant call for a customer of his who was having trouble with\na <glossary>SCSI<\/glossary> tape drive. The consultant almost got upset when I\nstarted talking about the technical issues involved such as termination, proper\ncabling, etc. You see, he had a masters degree in electrical engineering and\ntherefore was fully aware of the technical issues at hand. I asked him how much\n<glossary>RAM<\/glossary> his system had. He responded, “Do you mean memory?\nWell, there is, uh, 32, uh, what do you call them, megabytes.” (No, I’m not\nmaking this up.)<\/p>\n<p>\nAnother time a customer was having a similar problem getting a\n<glossary>network<\/glossary> card working. Again, it was the issue of the\ncustomer not having the basic computer knowledge to know about base addresses\nand interrupts. The difference between thin-net and twisted pair was foreign to\nhim. He had worked for many years on mainframes and had never had to deal with\nthis level of problem. After more than half-an-hour of trying to help him, it\nbecame apparent that this was really beyond what tech support is there for. I\nsuggested he hire himself a consultant. In the long run, that would ensure he\ngot the attention and service he need. There was a long pause, and then he said,\n“I am the consultant.”<\/p>\n<p>\nOne of my favorites is a consultant in Texas who was trying to do\nlong-distance hardware troubleshooting for a site in Alaska. Despite the fact\nthat they had a <glossary>modem<\/glossary> connection, it is often quite\ndifficult to check hardware settings and cabling through a modem.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nMy auto mechanic has a PC running a <glossary>DOS<\/glossary>\n<glossary>application<\/glossary>\nwritten specifically for automobile workshops. Aside from the fact that the\nconsultant has them start Windows and then click on an\n<glossary>icon<\/glossary> to start this <i>DOS<\/i> application, it does it’s job\n(it’s the only thing the machine is used for). Recently they discovered that\nthey were running out of hard disk space and needed a larger drive. So, the\nconsultant came in put in a larger hard drive and things looked better. Because\nit was not part of their contract, he charged them for two hours labor to\nreplace the drive, plus 10 percent more than the average market price for the\nhard disk. Now, so far, this seems like an acceptable practice. However, they\ntook the smaller drive with them, although they charged full price for the\nlarger drive. It wasn’t defective, just too small.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nThese stories represent four basic problems with computer consultants. First,\nyou don’t have to have studied computer science or even a related field to open\nshop as a computer consultant. Although electrical engineering is a related\nfield and the person may know about the computer at the transistor level, this\nis comparable to saying that a chemist who knows what goes on at the molecular\nlevel inside an internal combustion engine is competent to fix your brakes.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nThe next issue is that although the person had worked with computers for\nyears, he or she knew little about PCs or operating systems. I have seen\nenough times consultants who assume that all computer systems are the same. They\nworked for years on Windows so they are qualified to install and support\n<glossary>UNIX<\/glossary>, right?\n<\/p>\n<p>\nThere is also the issue of the consultant not making house calls. They have\nto. They have to be willing to come to your site and check the situation\nthemselves. You cannot be expected to shut down operations to bring a computer\nto their office, nor should you tolerate them trying to do remote support (i.e.,\nacross a modem).\n<\/p>\n<p>\nLastly, if you do need to hire a consultant, make sure you know what you are\npaying for. When you do decide on a consultant, make sure that you know\nspecifically what services are being provided and what obligations the\nconsultant has. These services include not only hardware and software, but what\nwork the consultant is going to provide. If the consultant needs to replace a\ndefective hard disk, the cost of the disk is included but the time to replace it\nmay not be included.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nThe best solution is to ask your friends and other companies. If you have a\ngood relationship with another company of similar size and product, maybe they\ncan recommend a consultant to you. Another source is the Internet and on-line\nservices like CompuServe. Ask people there what their experiences have been. Web\nsearch engines, like Yahoo or Alta Vista, can give you names of companies that\nspecialize in Linux as well.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"subtitle\">How to Get the Most for Your Money<\/p>\n<p>\nDeciding that you need a consultant doesn’t mean that you are throwing\nyourself to the wolves. With a little preparation, you can be ready and ensure\nthat you don’t make any costly mistakes. There a four basic steps to follow when\ndeciding which consultant to go with:<\/p>\n<ul> <li>Define the project.\n<li>Find the right person for the job.\n<li>Agree <i>in writing exactly <\/i>what the job entails and what is expected from both sides.\n<li>Makes sure the job gets done correctly and on time.\n<\/ul>\n<p>\nWhen you think you have found the right consultant, you must treat them like\na telephone company: Get it in writing! This, along with finding the right\nperson, are the two essential factors in deciding which consultant to\nchoose.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nLet’s look at the right person first. There are several ways to go about\nchoosing a consultant. First, you can pick up the telephone book and find the\none with the fanciest ad. Personal referrals are also a way, but this can cause\na lot of problems. If the consultant is a friend or family member of the person\nmaking the recommendation, you can get yourself into an awkward position when\nyou either find he or she is not the right person for the job or he or she is\nnot really competent and you have get rid of him or her. Personally, I think\nrecommendations from other companies are best. They have had real experiences\nwith the consultant and (should) know their capabilities.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nPart of choosing the right person is making sure that he or she has the\nskills necessary to get the job done. Never hire a consultant who doesn’t know\nthe product or issue at hand but insists can learn it. You are paying for an\nexpert, so that’s what you should get, not someone still in training. The\nprocess is basically the same as hiring an employee. You can request a resume\nand references and then call those references. Things to ask the references\nshould include the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What did you think of this consultant\nin general?\n<li>What did you think of the consultants technical abilities?\n<li>Did he or she interact well with your employees? <\nLI>Did he or she follow\nthrough with commitments? Finish on time?\n<li>When the project was finished, were there any points of dispute? How well did the consultant react?\n<li>Did you understand what the consultant did?<\/ul>\n<p>\nWhen you have your first meeting with the consultant, there is nothing wrong\nwith having your expert present to “test” the consultants knowledge. This is\nthe same thing as an interview you are trying to determine whether to hire this\nperson. Therefore, you have the right to ask about his or her technical\nabilities.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nIn one company for which I worked, we had a very bad experience with a\nconsultant. The company ran mostly PCs with Windows for Workgroups, but there\nwere several UNIX servers and workstations. We found a consulting firm that were\n“experts” with Microsoft’s Exchange because we were planning to implement this\non the company’s intranet. We explicitly told the consulting firm that one of\nour goals was to get connected to the Internet. We scheduled a three-day\nworkshop during which the consultant would go through the details of\nconfiguration and give us guidance on how to implement it.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nWhen the consultant arrived, we were pleasantly surprised that it was one of\nthe owners of the firm. However, the pleasure was short-lived when we\ndiscovered that he had no understanding of Internet mail and therefore could\nprovide us no guidance on how to configure MS-Exchange for the Internet. We also\nlater discovered that he was no expert with MS-Exchange because he spent the\nentire afternoon on the last day trying to get a basic configuration issue to\nwork.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nThis taught us two things. First, just because someone is the owner of a\nconsulting firm does not mean he or she knows what he or she is talking about.\nUnlike with doctors, few laws govern who can call him- or herself a consultant.\nSecond, we were not clear with what our expectations were or what the consultant\nwas to provide. Nothing was in writing other than that the consultant would give\nus a “workshop.” It was obviously up to the consultant to decide whether he had\nachieved this goal.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nThere are many areas in which a consultant is necessary. You cannot hire\nexperts in every area. It would just be too expensive. Even if you do have\npeople in your organization who are experts, it is often useful to have someone\ncome in with a fresh perspective. As an employee, you often have emotional\nresponses involving your system or company that a consultant doesn’t have. This\nis helpful to get to the core of the issue.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nAnother aspect is the specialization. A consultant has a particular skill set\nin which he or she knows almost everything (at least that’s what you’re\nhoping). Being really good at this one subject means that he or she may not be\nas useful to a company to hire the person full time. However, if the company is involved in\na project that requires that skill, it is cost-efficient to hire the expert and\nget the job done more quickly. I think of setting up an Internet server as the\nprimary example. After I had done it a few times, it became a lot easier.\nHowever, once I have done it a dozen or so times, it might become easy.\nPotentially, I could hire myself as a consultant to develop Internet servers.\n(But then again, maybe not.)<\/p>\n<p>\nWhen you hire a consultant, you must know what you want out of him or her.\nWhat information do you expect the consultant to impart on you or what project\ndo you expect the consultant to complete? What does “complete” really mean? If\nthe project is configuring a Web server and all the consultant does is hook you\nup to the Internet, then the job is not done. If the project will take a long\ntime and you expect regular status reports, have the consultant define when\nthese reports are due. If he or she says every other Friday, then handing it to\nyou on Monday is not acceptable.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nYou may not be able to use the correct “buzzwords” to define what you want,\nbut you can come up with a clear idea of what you want.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nOnce you have the concept of what you want, you should work with the\nconsultant to define the project in the correct terminology. However, don’t\nlet the consultant confuse you. If you don’t understand, say so. There is\nnothing wrong with not understanding something. If you were an expert on this\nsubject, you wouldn’t need a consultant. One thing that our MS-Exchange\nconsultant did a lot of was talk in techno-babble. He would throw out a\ntechnical word to make him sound like an expert. The problem was that he really\ndidn’t know much about the subject and often used the words in the wrong\ncontext. If you get the feeling that the consultant is trying to baffle you with\nbuzzwords and techno-babble, it’s time to get another consultant.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nWhen dealing with a consultant, you are bound to face concepts and vocabulary\nthat are foreign. What about the other way around? Will the consultant know\neverything about your business? If the consultant specializes in your area, you\nwould hope so. However, you are probably hiring a computer specialist, not a\nlegal specialist or medical specialist or wholesale distribution specialist.\nTherefore, there is a lot that you will have to explain to your consultant.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nDo not assume that the consultant knows your business at all. Specify\n<i>every<\/i> aspect of the project. One example is a wholesale soft drink\ndistribution company. When people buy large quantities of soda, they are most\nfamiliar with buying by the case. A consultant you hire to develop a tracking\nsystem may take this for granted and write the program to deal only in cases.\nWhat if you distribute containers of cola syrup as well? These are not measured\nin cases. If you assume that the consultant knows this and don’t tell him or her\nand he or she programs for cases, who is responsible for paying for the changes?\nYou said you wanted a tracking system and you got one. The project description\ndidn’t mention the kind of units.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nDon’t let the consultant get away with estimates on anything. If he or she\nestimates anything, it can be off. Just like the estimate on car repairs. The\nmore vague the job description, the easier it is for the consultant to postpone\nor claim that something was never agreed on, in terms of time as well as money.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nIf the job will take a while and you have said you want status reports, you\ncan use these reports for the basis of payment. For example, the project is to\ntake 10 weeks with five bi-weekly status reports. Each time you get a status\nreport, the consultant gets one-fifth of the total fee. Another way would be to\nset “milestones.” Each phase of the project is to be done by a certain date. At\neach milestone, the consultant gets a certain percentage of the total. The idea\nof completion-based payment is important if you have deadlines to meet yourself.\nThe consultant must be made aware of these as well. It is not unreasonable to\nmake completion within the time specified be part of the contract. However, you\nneed to be clear in the contract what is to be done and by when.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nThe consultant may not be working solely on your project during the time you\ncontracted him or her. This is acceptable, provided he or she meets all his or\nher commitments. Explaining to you that he or she couldn’t meet the deadline\nbecause of a problem at another site should tell you that the other customer is\nmore important. They might be, so find a consultant who will consider you most\nimportant.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"subtitle\">Do You Get What You Pay For?<\/p>\n<p>\nWell, that depends. Just because a consultant asks for a high rate does not\nmean he or she is good. I consider Ferrari or Jaguar as examples. These are\nvery expensive cars. They have a “performance” comparable to their price in that\nthey go fast. If you buy a Ferrari consultant, he or she might be done with the\njob in a short time. However, as with the Ferrari, you might spend as much on\nrepairs as on the cost of the car.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nOn the other hand, a consultant’s rates will get higher as he or she gets\nbetter. Not only does he or she have more technical ability, but he or she has\nthe ability to do a better job more quickly. As a result, you pay a higher rate\nfor his or her time, but you pay for less time. Therefore it comes out cheaper\nin the long run. Even if it is not cheaper on your checkbook, having the project\ndone faster may save you money.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nSome consultants are paid $200 an hour, some are paid $1,000 a day. Those are\nreasonable prices. Your employees (probably) don’t get paid that much, so why\nshould you pay a consultant like that? Well, first, a consultant may not be “on\nthe job” when he or she is at your site. Depending on the project, there maybe\nhours, days, or even weeks of preparation. Plus, there are all the\nadministrative costs for the consultants office. You have to pay for the people\nin your IS\/IT department out of your own budget, but for not the company\nreceptionist. The consultant does.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"subtitle\">Legal Issues<\/p>\n<p>\nRemember that the consultant may have complete access to all of your data.\nThough I am not saying he or she is likely to be a spy for your competition,\nyou need to be careful. Even if the consultant doesn’t have access to your more\nprecious trade secrets, having him or her sign a nondisclosure agreement is a\nwise decision. This could be as simple as stating that the consultant is not to\ndisclose any aspect of the job to anyone, or it may go into detail about what is\nand is not to be kept secret. Talk to your lawyers about this one.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nWhen the consultant finishes the project, who owns the project? Well, you do\nas far as the project within your company is concerned. The consultant is not\ngoing to charge a license fee to use the program you paid him or her to develop.\n(We hope.) However, what about the code itself? This was done on your time, so\nlike the code a regular employee writes, it’s yours, right? Well, it may be the\ncase that the consultant does keep the right to the code he or she has written,\nalthough the compiled, running program is yours. Make this clear in your\ncontract. If you want the right to everything written by the consultant, make\nsure that part is written in the contract as well.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nOne important aspect of the contact is the default terms, that is, what\nhappens if the consultant defaults on the agreement. This is especially\nimportant if you have deadlines and by not meeting them you loose money. It is\nnot unreasonable to deduct a specific amount from the total for going past the\ndeadline. Not only does the consultant not get paid for those days past the\ndeadline, but money is deducted from what is owed him or her for the other days.\nI have seen consultants who intentionally overextend themselves just to get a\ncontract. They can promise to have it within a certain time, but have no\npressing need to unless they will be loosing money.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nYou have to be careful with this one. If the project is a feasibility study\nand it turns out that the project is not feasible, did the consultant do his\njob? Sure, he or she determined whether the project was feasible. Therefore, he\nor she did his or her job. Also, what happens if the cause of the delay is not\nthe consultants fault? If you promised him or her certain resources that were\nnot available, you are at <glossary>fault<\/glossary>.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nYou might even get a consultant who has an attitude of all or nothing. That\nis, if he or she doesn’t deliver on time and what is promised, you don’t pay\nhim or her. However, you can guarantee that this consultant will probably have\nyou spell out everything you want done so there is no room for discussion.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"subtitle\">\nPoints to Remember\n<\/p>\n<p>\nWhen dealing with consultants, remember these general issues that will help\nmake things easier:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A consultant is not one of your employees.\nDon’t insist that he or she arrive at a certain time or work until a certain\nhour. Maybe part of what he or she is doing can be done at his or her office.\nYou’re concerned with him or her getting the project done on time and not being\nphysically present at your site.\n<li>Judge the price you pay by what it would\ntake you to do the job without the consultant. How many hours would it take? How\nmuch money might you loose? If you would end up paying more than a “high-priced”\nconsultant, the consultant is cheap. However, comparison shopping is also valid\nfor consultant. Get a second or even third estimate.\n<li>Insist on some kind of\nproof that the consultant knows what he or she is talking about. A resume is\nfine, but references are better.\n<li>Make sure the consultant communicates well.\nCan he or she express himself? Does he or she understand your needs and\nrequirements?\n<li>Be comfortable with the consultant. If there is something\nabout him or her that you don’t like, you don’t need to hire him or her, just as\nit would be for a normal employee.\n<li>Don’t judge the consultant by personal\nappearance. Then again, I wouldn’t hire a slob. It’s okay to expect him or her to\nbe clean, but don’t expect a suit.\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Consultants You may someday find yourself in a position where you cannot continue to try to solve problems over the phone. You need someone to come to your office to look at the problem first hand. This is where the … <a href=\"http:\/\/www.linux-tutorial.info\/?page_id=341\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">→<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-341","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.linux-tutorial.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.linux-tutorial.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.linux-tutorial.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.linux-tutorial.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.linux-tutorial.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=341"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.linux-tutorial.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/341\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":530,"href":"http:\/\/www.linux-tutorial.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/341\/revisions\/530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.linux-tutorial.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}