Thread by @QuinnyPig

A third day, with my thoughts on consulting. This one is probably the most controversial, so let's get to it.

I don't think the best move is to do implementation work. A thread...

https://twitter.com/quinnypig/status/1366870640733523968

Hear me out. In the first thread I talked about finding a positioning that works as "the expert in An Expensive Thing."

In the second, I talk about value based pricing instead of hourly.

So you're now a very expensive expert here to solve a big expensive problem.

In the technology industry, I maintain that implementation opens up Pandora's Box of delivery risk, while simultaneously damaging the perception of your value.

First let's talk about risk. And let's talk about the specific expensive problem I solve: the @awscloud bill.

At the Duckbill Group what we deliver is advice, usually in the form of reports, presentations, or (whenever @mike_julian can't cut my power in time) interpretive dance.

We pointedly don't do any implementation of what we find. When I say "it increases risk," I'm not talking about "we turn off the wrong thing and now we're in trouble." I'm talking about delivery risk in the context of "you're now beholden to your client's delivery processes."

"That Terraform / CloudFormation isn't in our approved coding style."

"You must have the following four executives sign off before executing the Savings Plan purchase."

"The CAB meets in three months; you can propose your changes then."

Every client is *different*.

Their internal processes and politics now become barriers to you declaring a project complete--so it will linger for months or years. This is unpleasant.

Now let's talk perception of value.

"Thanks, Corey. You wrote some Shitty Terraform. Hey wait a second, I have a whole team who writes Shitty Terraform and I know what THEY cost; why are you more expensive? And HEY! Their Terraform is less Shitty!"

Nobody knows WTF a "Cloud Economist" costs, but they absolutely know what an "Engineer Who Writes Dogshit In YAML" does, and suddenly you're extending an invitation to negotiate pricing based on what your cost is instead of the value you provide.

There are specific Expensive Problems that you can solve and solve well that require you to write code, or do other implementation tasks. I get it. This is why this is the most controversial of the three threads. I'm so close to my own market that it shifts my perspective.

But people value advice more than they value implementation. Consider what your CTO makes vs. your engineers.

And for the expensive problem I solve, they already have engineers. "Apply a lifecycle policy to this S3 bucket," is something that doesn't take much time at all for one of them to implement (and if it does, you doubly don't want to be on the hook to do it!).

Our initial engagements are now generally under 2 months.

We absolutely do a bunch of analytics work on our end, and dig into the "why" behind things. I'm talking about implementation as "writing production code for clients."

https://twitter.com/rathboma/status/1367288235253243907

"Wait, but I love coding. You're telling me that the lifecycle of the consultant means I'll end up not doing the thing I enjoy?"

And THAT is why this three thread cycle started with me screaming "don't do it."

https://twitter.com/quinnypig/status/1366578799274381313