Author Archives: Ian

The Assassin of Discontent – A Great Project

In March 1963 Boeing assembled a group of engineers to create the world’s largest passenger and cargo aircraft, the Boeing 747. Almost 6 years from the day that group was formed, the first 747 took the sky on its maiden … Continue reading

Posted in Consulting Excellence | Leave a comment

Ensuring substance not just the form of communication

A while ago I  spent 40 minutes of valuable time having a presentation broadcast to me that I had: already reviewed provided important commentary on the content in the hopes of revising it and had that commentary subsequently ignored without … Continue reading

Posted in Consulting Excellence | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Choosing your role – Just Another Eagle

A wise and perhaps a tad acerbic colleague of mine once commented on my then pending decision to change consulting companies with the following advice. “If you stay you will always be an eagle among turkeys, but if you go … Continue reading

Posted in Consulting Excellence | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

What’s wrong with Arrogance?

When you are accused of being arrogant there are three possibilities: you are actually arrogant your behavior is being perceived as arrogant the person making the assessment is, as usual, wrong about you or the definition of the word arrogant … Continue reading

Posted in Consulting Excellence | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The World’s Most Expensive Consultant

Purportedly, the world’s most expensive consultant bills out at $120,000 (USD) per day. That’s $15,000 per hour or $250 per minute… and he is fully booked. He studied clarinet at the Julliard School of Music, dropped out of Columbia University … Continue reading

Posted in Consulting Excellence | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

How to Make More Money in Consulting

The “Jack of All Trades, Master of None” Consultant. This is the consultant that can write some C# code, do a bit of SQL, understand basic database design, code up a web page, knows how to build a basic web … Continue reading

Posted in Consulting Excellence | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Choice–Where is your IT career going?

“Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.” William Jennings Bryan In his memoir “Idea Man” he quotes his colleagues … Continue reading

Posted in Consulting Excellence | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Leadership … Taking the lead when you need to

My daughter (working in an office job now) posed the following question on Facebook last night. “How did it come to be that stereotypical group dynamics acknowledge the loudest, most social and conversationally dominating person in the room as a … Continue reading

Posted in Consulting Excellence | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

You’ve Got Mail… and more mail, and more mail and ..

This year marks the time where I change my CV from “20+” years of experience to “30+” years of experience as it passes 3 decades since I first transitioned from a passionate computer hobby to making real money in IT. … Continue reading

Posted in Consulting Excellence, Technology | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Kevin Turner@ Microsoft – is KT the new SteveB?

I was in the Microsoft office in Aug 2005 when the announcement of Kevin Turner’s (KT) appointment to COO was made. Like many others I had quizzical look when everyone found out he was from Wal-Mart and wondered what the … Continue reading

Posted in Consulting Excellence | Tagged , , | Leave a comment