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Ethics In Computer Consulting
"This is not an uncommon occurrence. Other consultancy firms seem to regularly help customers make decisions that are in the best interest of the consultancy and not of the client. If a sales person manages to convince a company that their product is the latest and greatest and it turns out to be useless software that crashes regularly then that is the sign of either a good salesman or a bad manager. Caveat Emptor.
Consultants are are supposed to provide a service, not sell a product. I know that the consultant is the product and there may be other products that the consultant uses that are beneficial to the client but that are not what the consultants purpose. The consultant (and this includes contractors) is hired by the company on the assumption that they will perform their duties to the benefit of the company as would any other staff member.
Is it ethically correct for me as a consultant to knowingly make decisions for the company that will increase the length or value of my contract even though I know it is not in their best interests? Obviously the answer is no.
I would hate to think that I am the exception to the rule but people in consulting with ethics appear to be few and far between. Where is the code of ethics for computing consultants and contractors? I have my own skeleton code of ethics but feel that it is time to put together a real one that could be used by consultants and contractors around the world. We are supposedly professionals and other professionals such as doctors and lawyers have one. Why not us?"
In a related question, E TiE asks: "What are good books for computer ethics and history?" Would anyone out there like to pass him a few ISBNs?
Dear RMS,
I sent you two mails back in Autumn and you still haven't replied, I guess there was a problem with the mail serverTruly yours,
Your biggest Fan,
This is Steve.
Dear RMS,
I wrote you an email a while back and you still haven't replied or chatted to me on IRC - I ain't mad, I just think it's fucked up that you don't answer fans. You could have at least chatted to my hacker friend from Australia man - you're his idol man, he's only 6 years old, he likes you even more than I do - he waited for you on a MUD for 6 hours on 33.6 connection, man. You know, my dog gets jealous when I talk about you 24/7Sincerely yours,
This is Steve
PS - We should be together, too!
Dear RMS,
I know you got my last two emails!! I wrote the addresses perfect and the mails didn't bounce!! So this is the WAV file I'm uploading to your FTP server!!!! I'm doing 90 on the highway....hear that in the background? That's my laptop man! I'm driving fast and the HDD is getting scratched...but that's OK...I can buy another one....you really messed up RMS...we could have been together....but now we won't....I hope you have bad dreams about it and wake up and scream about it!! Oh shit, how am I supposed to FTP this damn file, I left my cellular phone at home! Ahhhhh...I'm falling off the bridge, man....Dear Steve,
I got your emails, sorry, I was too busy pondering the latest GPL to reply. It is very important that you release everything that you think about under the new GPL thinking license. It will be beneficial to society if you do, and it will ruin society if you don't, Steve. Remember, it's not about the technical quality, only about the social implications, Steve. What's all this about us being together? That's the kind of stuff that only a BSD license user would say. That's the kind of stuff that'll make me not want us to meet. I saw a really terrible thing on the newsgroups the other day....a guy was driving alongRMS.
http://www.stallman.org
I am selling services and together with these I am also selling hardware and software. I am trying to find the best solution for the clients. In the long term this is the best way for everybody involved.
-- bmp System Support - Vienna, Austria
Do what's best for the customer. It actually pays!
----------------------
I used to be somewhat similar to you. Questioning the ethics of those around me. It seemed unebelivable. However, after doing the same for several years, you begin to realize. The customers are stupid. If you weren't there, they'd be doing something even worse with their money and time. Your only responsibility as a consultant is to make them just happy enough that they want you to come back, and hopefully keep them from going out of business so they can purchase your services in the future. If they're not smart enough to check up on your work, they really do deserve what they get. That's what being a BOFH is all about.
Ben Schumin :-)
Want to see evidence of this? Here's all the evidence you need.
"Ancillary does not mean you get to rule the world." --U.S. Circuit Judge Harry Edwards, speaking to the FCC's lawyer
When you go on to other consulting projects and they ask for references, the guy who didn't screw his client over will be the one more likely to get the job. Word of mouth does work. Ask Microsoft.
========================
63,000 bugs in the code, 63,000 bugs,
ya get 1 whacked with a service pack,
--- Grow a pair, liberals... stop letting the Republicans bully you!
I can't imagine a consultant lastling very long in the business if he continually rips off a customer. There are only so many businesses out there and after a while you need repeat business. If you continually rip off your clients they will never ask for you and spread the word. Soon You will find yourself with no clients and then out of business. But if you do keep your ethics you will find that repeat business will make up the majority of your clients.
My dad owns his own business (practice, actually) and he recently hired a comptuer consultant. From day one I knew that this guy wasnt any good. He replaced the server UPS with a model 3 times as big, even though the old one was more than adequate. Also, when my dads 1 year old tape drive died, rather than RMAing it (it had a 2 year warranty), he suggested that my dad should buy a new one (even though my dad had several hundred dollars worth of tapes for the old one). It too the consultant 3 weeks (no backups in the mean time, not a good idea) to find the drive to replace it with. When I inquired as to what was taking so long, he said that IDE tape drives with capacities larger than 4GB (the server HDD is 6GB, but only 2.5GB is used) were "rare and hard to find". Finally he put in an OnStream Echo30, which has 5 times the capacity that my dad needs, and now my dad has to buy all new tapes to replace the ones he purchased a year ago! All in all, its been no fun, and when my dad had the consultant come to our house to install some software, I promptly logged out and said, "Give me the disks, Ill install it myself" due to a previous instance with the consultant installing spyware!
Mark Duell in southern California, looking for a good comptuer consultant
Mark Duell
I'd write up a "case-study" for the local paper or business organ, and use this example, thinly veiled, to point out what people should look for in a consultant. Good PR for your business, and you can make sure it gets distributed to the sucker company.
Are there any chances that unscrupulous consultants are opening themselves up for lawsuits? It seems to me that if someone could prove that a consulting firm ripped his company off by selling it a product that is far more expensive product than it needed, especially if the firm had an interest in the fact that the particular product was sold, it would be liable for some kind of conflict of interest suit. Any ideas?
"I just witnessed a company be blatantly ripped-off for many thousands of dollars for a product that was totally unsuitable to their requirements."
If it was that obvious, I think someone would have latched onto it. This is carrying coals to Newcastle. Yes ethics are important. Ask any lawyer who is reviewing that consulting contract you are about to sign...
If company runs Windows, suggest they migrate to Linux.
If company runs Linux, suggest they migrate to BSD.
If company runs BSD, suggest they migrate to Windows.
________
Does anyone actually have a Java program designed to control air traffic, or for the operation of a nuclear facility?
I get almost all of my new business from referrals. Being honest with my clients pays off directly in the form of new business
Besides, happy clients will utilize my services over and over.
That said, I have faced the temptation to do things not in the clients best interest - usually they'll ask for something they read about in a magazine and I'll have to explain why it isn't right for them. Of course, I now get called to help evaluate new technologies, so even this leads to new business
Treat your clients right and you'll never want for business again. Screw them and you'll always be struggling.
-Loopy
If AOL were a consulting group, they'd all be out on the streets begging for quarters.
"Ancillary does not mean you get to rule the world." --U.S. Circuit Judge Harry Edwards, speaking to the FCC's lawyer
I'm not aware of any ethical guidelines for computing - it's mainly a case of individual corporations embracing ethical guidelines. Every engineering society that I know of has a set of ethical guidelines, however. Here's the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of BC's code of ethics and here's the IEEE code of ethics. (#s 2 and 7 would apply in this case if you were using these guidelines, #s 3,4,7, and 9 would apply from the APEG code) As far as your case go, the particulars are very important to determining whether you are ethically bound to speaking out.
for example, I sold Rob the lameness filter and the patented slashdot-anti-troll perl code. We're in negotiations for version 2 as we speak.
I don't think this necessarily needs to be a profits vs. ethics dichotomy. Obviously a consultant that looks to squeeze every last dime out of its customers will make more money in the short term, but its customers will suffer in the long term as a result. Especially now that the dot-com bubble has burst and investors are demanding real profits, a successful company needs to trim the fat -- whether that means laying off extraneous employees or firing an exploitative consulting firm. Companies that employ these swindlers won't be able to compete with those who get honest consulting advice. Ultimately, they'll fold, taking the reputations of the "unethical" consulting firms with them. So you can be ethical and make $$$, too.
Cheers,
IT
Power corrupts. PowerPoint corrupts absolutely.
A lot of the people I meet in my professional life are just in it for the money. To me, it's sad and sickening to see the 'art of ware' -- programming -- being corrupted and twisted in such an ugly way. I say this because usually the developers I know that are simply doing it for the money are the lousiest developers. Often I have to clean up after them -- not only is their style ugly, but a lot of the time they don't bother to actually solve the problem correctly. They miss the point or don't care to cover all the extreme contingencies.
It's like they write this glossy code which obviously took little tought, minimal effort, and seems to do the job at least for a little while.
If you are one of the developers out there who really hates programming, and really couldn't give a rat's ass about the art -- I ask you to consider either changing your attitude or getting out of the profession. People like you are the reason why the rest of us have to suffer out there!
I suffer BEFORE I get a job.. because half the time the people hiring me have been so BURNED by boastful, greedy, lying developers that they have to be very skeptical. After I manage to convince the person that's hiring me that I am actually competent, I then have to usually pick up after the greedy jerk of a developer that came before me. I have to take his ugly, beastly, hulking, diseased code and hopefully turn it into something halfway decent. Usually these people write the most spaghetti-like, poorly documentated, obfuscated, uncommented, ugly code.. It sickens me!
Look at Swiss banks, they held the money stored by victems of the holocaust, look at any case where money is involved and you will see a lack of ethics. Drug dealers will kill one another just as soon as looking. In economics there is very little on ethics, it is a cold law of suppily and demand. People are numbers in economics(and by extension politics), workers in the 1870-1930 were disregarded in issues of safty. Even slavery is alike, no ethics for profit. If greed is involved very few people will act ethically.
If people can connect to one another even the smallest of voices will grow loud.
If people can connect to one another even the smallest of voices will grow loud.
--Serial Experiments Lain
Consultants are the least of our worries. What has always concerned me are the ethics of "time and materials" outsourcing. For those new to the gag it goes like this: Acme ask Megasoft to write them some bespoke code. Megasoft say "Sure thing, we haven't specified the project correctly yet, but I estimate it will cost seven million dollars". Acme, strangely enough, shit themselves at which point Megasoft suggest that they proceed in a more cautious manner and that Acme pay their developers per hour plus the kit needed to do it.
And it seems like a good idea.
Suckered! Now, at what point is there any onus on Megasoft to manage this project correctly? Why, exactly, should they hire developers who are any good when the crap ones take so much longer? The only dilemma Megasoft have is whether or not to hire some testers, who would be chargeable, but run the risk of preventing the project from going hugely over budget....
Yeah, I have a problem with this whole situation.
Dave
I write a blog now, you should be afraid.
I have seen good consultants, I have seen bad consultants. I have seen good and bad people in all walks of life. Unlike many other jobs out there, computer programming and computer science is one where ethics are treated with importance during the learning process. I know that every computer science class I have taken has talked at one time or another about the ethics of managing systems, of writing programs, of handling information. I know there are plenty of college ethics classes available at most colleges that teach computer-related fields. The information and discussion is out there, and I would hope that any computer anything worth his or her salt would have taken a few of them.
Perhaps we need a certifying organization like many other industries out there? Not Microsoft-certified, not being called a Realtor (tm), and certainly nothing like TRUSTe, but maybe some kind of board that would allow people to be certified members in good standing, and then based on complaints about them and recommendations and positive comments made, they could keep or lose their membership. It would be an online system, of course, with a small fee, and then potential employers would be able to check feedback profiles.
Just an idea, it would probably take a lot more thought to work out all the details.
consultant --> Techie Hooker
consulting firm --> the Pimp!
its a comparison that i keep hearing... and hey its funny, so dont start a flame. Hell when i was in college i was pimped out many a times to do troubleshooting (low class techie hooker;)
what do you ppl. think ? ? ?
Non-Deterministic Finite Automata
it "raises the question". "Begging the question" is a form of argument that uses circular logic. Look it up.
I wish I could say the marketplace weeds out the charlatans, but it actually seems to encourage them. Ultimately, the reasons for hiring a consultant are political - to justify a decision already made, to take the fall for difficult choices (e.g., inevitable layoffs), or to provide a scapegoat for a flawed internal process. Only when the political process goes awry does the consultant suffer.
Basically, the folks hiring the consultant wouldn't know a good technical product if they stepped on it, and even if they could distinguish technical quality, its not the reason they hired the consultant to begin with.
If your children ever found out how lame you are, they'd murder you in your sleep
Maybe someone should create something like an "Organization for Computer Constultants", which members would pay say $30.00 (US) to be listed within a spam free database which those who have used their services can comment on those consultants.
I've seen people in the industry without a clue about their left from their right hands, and what it should come down to, is the person scouting for the person they hired being more thorough instead of just throwing money out of the window.
Within that database, consultants could also post about the companies they've done work for since it is also a two way street and if anyone hasn't noticed, the flurry of dot.com's which went DOA, have left many consultants in the dark with past due bills unpaid. So this topic shouldn't have been solely focused on rip off artists.
Had the recruiter had at least a substantial amount knowledge in the industry, I'm sure it'd be harder to be taken by a con. This again boils down to the company and their standards of procedures (which seem to be none.)
Jessica Alba nude
"When I was a Buddhist, it drove my parents and friends crazy, but when I am buddha, nobody is upset at all"
Sure, there is good money to be made, but in the end, we are all about providing a service, whether that service is constructing a Web site, running a network or administrating a Web discussion board. And while you are providing that service, don't you want to feel proud about the job you are doing?
Hoo boy, that sure sounds nice, but would you please like to join the rest of us in reality? Don't get me wrong, I want an ethical world with ethical businesses just as much as the next guy. Perhaps even more so.
But if the last decade has shown us anything about the human race, it's that we can be damn creative and inventive when it comes to technology, but we still tend to push aside things like ethics, morality, and general kindness in the persuit of our own wealth or power. In other words, I don't see anything changing. But I will continue to fight the good fight as long as it exists or until I perish, whichever comes first.
However, I can think of at least one particular solution to the problem of ethics in computer consulting... a meta-consulting organization of some type analogous to the Better Business Beareau. (Which technically covers consultants anyway.) It merely needs to be a place of authority that businesses can go to and check up on a consultant they are considering to see if complaints have been logged in the past.
Of course, this simple idea would need a lot of work to become useful due to the possibility of abuse. If some consultants are being big enough shysters to go ahead and let a company spend needless millions, is it a far stretch to go logging fictious complains against your competitors? What about those who might be in cahoots with whoever runs the organization? And it need not be limited to computer consultants either. Mayhaps ISPs? PC Service centers? Freelance programmers?
The reason I put a bit of thought into this post is because I might aspire to be a consultant one day (I think I know my kit fairly well) and I don't want to see myself just sitting next to the telephone waiting for it to ring because No One Trusts A Consultant(tm).
One: if you're the hirer of the consultant, get a second opinion. Ask another consultant. Check the media. Determine if the consultant is recommending this because it's good for you or if he/she's recommending it because it's good for him/her.
My second idea is more theoretical than anything else. Charge clients an annual fee for your services, regardless of what they do with your advice. This removes a lot of COI questions, imo.
IEEE/ACM has ethics guidelines...
Also, "After the Gold Rush" by Steve McConnell is pretty good.
I the gateway country stores
I was always amazed by the sales people
in the small Biz department they would sell
some serious servers with NT for a small office
with maybe 4 workstations the bill was very expensive
Plus the people had know clue how to set up or maintain
these systems.
It was a very ugly situation.
The real problem though is that the sales people really didn't know
any better they just sold people what ever gateway offered
stop by a gateway counrty store yourself you'll see what I mean
http://Lenny.com
Rather, performing consulting work ethically is essential to your survival and long-term success.
The rationale of all your consulting work is to help your clients succeed: "Help your customer succeed, and you will share in their success!" is one of my email heading tags.
You don't help your clients well by falling into conflict-of-interest situations, overcharging for your services, or failing to solve their problems in the most efficient ways.
Individual consultants (and even large consulting firms) that forget or overlook this basic business truth eventually see their jobs dwindle, customer base diminish, etc.
When you see ethical lapses, report them (either within your firm, or directly to your client if you're independent). Your views will be valued, even if your firm or client takes no immediate action, simply because you were honest with them.
Then again, there are a lot of grey areas and your assessments should be based upon objective facts, rather than personal preferences. Be careful - don't accuse lightly.
This is an important topic. I'll be interested to see what others have to say about it. However, as a person who "resigned" from a Big-5 firm because I refused to lie to a big client, I've lived this. (And yes, I have a good job with a better firm now, partly because I observed consulting ethics.)
I work in Montreal. My boss signed a few years long contract with a major solution provider.
:)
I won't name the company, but let's say it's a rather large one, and very very well known.
Oh well, XYZ billed our company 60k CAN$ to install a simple firewall running Linux.
If my company can afford a 60k$ firewall, they can certainly give me a good raise!
The problem is there are few really competent companies on the business.And I agree when people say it's a lazyness problem too.
The REAL problem here is that the people who hire consultants tend not to even consider these issues. I have seen far too many consultants be allowed to make very large business decisions unhindered by management that brings them in. In many large consulting firms consultants are expected to push more services they are after all employees of a company whose business is to sell services/product. In fact many consultants make a bonus based on how much they can extend services or by how much they bill in a time period. This leads to the consultant having a choice to make -- sell more (sometimes unneeded hours/products) and succeed as a consultant or be ethical and do what is right by the company that is paying for your services. It seems like the later road is the least followed today. -Waswas
There's a lot of money in this industry and it's attracted a lot of utter morons. Let the buyer beware.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
setting up my own consultancy (sp?). In talking with a few potential clients, I get the feeling that computer consultants (generalists, not coders, etc) are rapidly falling into the same category as mechanics and handymen. Viewed with no small amount of skepticism and customers tend to go with the "lesser of two evils" theory more often than not. WRT this particular question, there's never been a moment of indecision in my own mind: having a reputation that is solid and beyond reproach will always lead to more business than you can handle. Even if you don't care a whit about ethics, always do what is in the clients best interest. It won't take long for the word to get around if you don't.
anyway, that was the last time I worked with him. I figure he did just enough damage to make the server continu ously fail over a period of a couple years: enough to insure that he gets to play consultant for that company for a long time to come.
Consultants are like Norton Utilities: if they look busy enough, people are fooled into thinking that they're doin g a good job.
P
Be ot or bot ne ot, taht is the nestquoi.
Case study in point, I work for a small company
They decided is was high time to get a real network connection (fractional T1 512KB data, 512Kb voice). They where worried about script kiddies and the likes so they said we have to have a firewall of some sort. Smart move, the provider recommended this consulting firm out of Salem NH.
They quote, I say it's not gonna work, our programming coop agrees. We get 4 different quotes from 4 different vendors, all cost less and I like the technologies (netscreen, sonic wall, 24/7 monitoring services, Cisco's ect...).
I get over ruled, because this other company was recommended by our ISP...
They wipe out our MRP system for the month of December, Keep us from shipping product for the better part of the month. Finally they get the system installed, wipe out email for one of our two subnets, still not resolved, keep pointing fingers at everyone as to why things aren't working, first the ISP, then the Bay Network stacks that connect the two networks, then our computers, ect. They go way over budget, a firewall that was supposed to cost $10,000 has now cost us $30,000. And to top it off the proxy server blue screens every 24 to 36 hours...
Solution I blow up at the one of the VP's so bad on friday that he closes his door and we get into a shouting match. I doubt I will get a favorable review this year, but we are heaving that Windows 2000 Server Proxy server running otis proxy software into the dumpster and reconfiguring the Cisco 2611 it was behind to properly route data from the two subnets to the outside world and act as a firewall. Then placing Zone Alarm on the individual user machines as a second layer Firewall.
Who will reconfigure the Cisco, probally the same consultants...
You can't win, I've had plenty of computer consultants leave really bad tastes in my mouth.
TastesLikeHerringFlavoredChicken
TastesLikeHerringFlavoredChicken
They have Business Ethics and Medical Ethics, but not Technical Ethics (i took a science/technology/human values class, but it isn't what you would think)
Quality does not seem to be a major issue for CS or MIS tracks of study. What happens when hospitals use devices and software that isn't quality? It is obvious that ethics, quality, and for God's sake *secure* coding should all be valued far more in university CS/MIS departments. Personally, I'm double majoring in Philosophy and Computer Science. You wouldn't think they go together, but actually the AI concentration is filled with advanced logic and philosophy of the mind classes.
Chaos, Mayhem, and Destruction: Not
I'm an IT consultant for one of the big 5 consulting companies, and our work ethic is to make our clients' issues our issues. Of course, it would be naive to believe that everyone in the company follows this directive, but a lot of us do try.
I have seen a lot of clients jaded at the mere mention of "consultant", mainly due to prior experiences with these sub-par idiots who do rip off their clients. After being burned one, two, three times, a company becomes very reluctant to use consultants again. We have a hard enough time try to get new business; I can only imagine how some of these shoddy consultants ever get work again.
Basically, it comes down to smart business and proper ethics. If you screw someone for a quick buck, your credibility and future business opportunities go down the drain.
Just like most things in life, the best things are neither free nor easy- and in this case it is a job well done, the satisfaction deriving from that, and good continued business.
Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.
I and a growing number of people are on the flip side of this ethical question. Rather than sell software a company doesn't need, we harvest software from the Free software community. We are internal company consultants that exist because of the Free Software industry. In my case our company is a Biotechnology company that sells chemicals and software is just what we need to operate. The growing body of Free Software and Open Software has allowed me to move into role of internal consultant. I gather the software we need and modify it to fit the needs of my company. The ethicial question for me is how to give back to the community. To address this, I have been working for the last 5 years migrating our internal coding practices to be in line with Free Software practices. I am working toward a day when every line of code we produce is by default free.
This, in my "big company" experience, is (sadly) more often true than not. It's the reason that I stick with smaller companies. I worked for a fairly large company that ran call centers. My boss, the CIO, more than once hired a consultant to "evaluate our options" even though he had the recommendations written and ranked from his in-house staff. This frustrated me to no end and one day I asked him about it. He told me in no uncertain terms the only reason he did it was to cover his ass and provide ammo in his fights with other departments.....
I'm sure I'm not the only one, but I *do* help the all customers, even the stupid ones! I try to be polite, find the problem and for some even explain what they did wrong. You would be surprised how often they are grateful. Of course you need that little thing called "patience".
Now, for the kidding: yes, I do laugh with their stupidity, but mostly in the form of anecdotes in presence of my peers. Tales mostly start as "Oh, I knew this user who did this hilarious thing, etc...."
Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
Folks, look around you. I've worked for several consulting companies. They will sell you out for the cost of a latte at the drop of a hat. The clients wouldn't need to hire you if they were willing to pay for the employees (at a substantial savings, hourly) to tell them what you tell them.
Their being cheap and short sighted is not your fault. Most employees enjoy no more job security than the average consultant these days, and are fired as readily when it fits some executive asshole's whim. Corporate America is all about screwing the little guy.
Sometimes the little guys (consultants) need to screw them back. Any big company that *could* hire a full time employee to handle a need but goes with the quick and dirty method of hiring a temp (which is really what most consultants are) deserves whatever it gets.
Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
That people who suggest these solutions are just lacking in the technical knowledge and know how to offer up a better solution? I see this all the time. People who seem very intelligent over all making bad calls like this because they lack exposure to other things. What do you think?
There are diciplinary action for breaches to.
Look at Slashdot, anyone who is a regular reader here is aware of the amazing amount of divergent opinions present on any number of topics by our community.
How many times have you been in, or overheard, a conversation with contemporaries and heard things like "That guy didn't know what the hell he was doing..." or "I guess that is how Company XYZ does it but we do it right etc...". I am sure I will be taken to task for the generalization but we are a very cannabalistic bunch and we all have a very distinct idea of what is good Kung-Fu and what is paper MCSE stuff. We also don't mind sharing our opinions. This story is a good example. I don't know the details of the situation but who am I to judge that the submitter isn't the real idiot who wouldn't know a good plan if it bit him. No offense, I am sure that isn't the case but I am sure not going to take him at face value. People who don't know jack about computers (read most of the population) will certainly listen to him though, right or wrong.
Anyone who has been in a computer store and listened to a salesman talk about another computer store's products or staff knows exactly what I mean. It's no wonder people don't trust us. We all tell them not to trust the next guy. Unfortunately, he is sayng the same thing and he sounds just as smart and knowledable as you.
I think you may have miscounted the squirrels.
My boss said he wanted to see more of me. So I gained 12 pounds. This post may or may not be sarcastic.
I'd blame bad management myself, at least in part. There's low quality workmanship in every profession, and the managers are the ones who aren't checking up.
When we bring in consultants around here they usually don't come straight out of the phone book. Instead, we ask around, asking people and friends in other businesses of their opinions about consultants.
If a consultant did a bad job or made bad reccommendations, word gets around and we won't hire them. Reputation is everything to some businesses, and they'll pay for reputation through the nose.
If you want to build up a reliable, well paying customer base, don't worry so much about what others are doing. Just do a good job, don't rip people off, maybe and see if you can get some of your customers to reccommend you - especially in writing that you can flash around in front of other customers.
===
Use systems such as MandrakeExpert.com where you can give a note to provider of the service you have bought (here it is online services, but you can imagine all kind of services).
Any company that screws its clients without giving a damn is going to become unstuck at some point. Company A employess Company B to do something and Company B charges them 10x over the odds for this. They (Company A) find out at some point that this is going on and then they find someone else to do their work (IT in this case).
If anyone needs an example look at whats going on with (Linux|BSD|etc) and Microsoft. People see they get a raw deal and start to move away. It isnt instant and it can sometimes take the dumb ones several helpings of getting cheated before they realise but it will happen in time.
First a disclaimer, not knowing the ins and outs, I can only make a couple of assumptions:
1 - you do not know the intimate details and may not understand what the client has asked for. If they asked for wizbang1 because they read about it AND it is the only solution they will accept, than wizbang1 is what they get.
I have seen this on several occasions with J2EE. Clients want J2EE products even though they cannot describe what it is or why they want it. EJBs same thing. Gotta be EJBs...only way to go. You can talk until you are blue, but someone has put the seed in them and this dog won't hunt.
This is no more unethical than denying people Porsches because they can use a Chevy to get from work and home. Once you told them, and told them, in the end it is their money. Now if you fail to tell them, then we get into #2.
2 - you do know the intimate details and can speak to the specific issue at hand. At that point, if the money has not been spent, speak up. [If it has been spent remain silent for life] You would be surprised at who people will listen to when they are about to spend big money. Remember to be specific and LISTEN. Most poor consultants cover themselves with generalizations and ambiguous explanations about "the future". You will need to make your points better than they have with alternative solutions. If you tell them Jim's ideas suck, without an alternative you have not done them or yourself any favors.
In the end, if they decide to go with the other options anyway, remember to be a good sport, try to make the chosen solution work, and never go for the "I told you so"
We do not need an ethical standard for consultants and computer development. We just need to have the ethics of a human that does the best job they can, under the circumstances presented, without hurting their fellow human beings. It is really the basic "do unto others..." doctrine. Consultant or convenience store clerk, it is the same.
I know it seems like the companies that are screwing people are making good money, but they never last long. They will not get referrals, and they will end up with a bad reputation.
I witnessed one of my largest clients get screwed by a company that attempted to upgrade their NT 4 server to 2 processors. They installed the second processor, ran some uptomp.exe thing from the resource kit, and completely ruined the server. It would not boot. They spent two days trying to fix it without restoring from tape (because, they pointed out, you'd still have a single processor kernel if you did that). After two days, I convinced my client to get rid of them and let me fix the server. The company then billed my client for 32 hours (two people, two days) at $175/hr for the creation of this mess!
I know several people who own their own consulting companies, and they get all of their business from word of mouth. They are up front and honest and will even tell the client that the client does not need their services when that is the case. It very much impresses people when you take less time that you estimated, or recommend that they not spend their money on something they are asking for because you can do it in a cheaper, better way.
On a related note, my father is in sales and has often had similar problems. He often found that when he started at a new company or in selling a product in a new field that he lagged behind the dishonest sales people who sold products customers didn't need and stole customers from their coworkers. He found that in every field, he became very successful for being honest with people. He also found that many times if he told someone that a competitor had a product that was more suited to them, they would buy from him anyway because they trusted him.
Yes, it would be extremely useful to have an accepted code of ethics for consulting (and sales is somewhat related to this). If this was well known and accepted, it would be easy to use to show how effective consultants were. Somewhat of a measuring stick, I guess. It would also give more substance to the word of mouth reviews about a consultant because you would have something to point to and say 'they did all these things which were harmful to my business'.
The problem is that the common rules for ethics are flawed. There are weaknesses in the common rules for ethics because while they promote various virtues, they also promote weakness in the face of unethical behavior by others.
This is a problem, and opens a can of worms.
After all, we have all known customers from hell, and have tried various ways to deal with them. The failure to deal with them to make them "happy" justifies the screw-over. This is part of the road to hell.
Of course, there are also the pointy haired boss types, etc. who look just for the fast buck. The various monsters of the business world, the vampires, the zombies, the ghouls.
So what is needed is something of a code or principles of common sense that that allow us the freedom to be ethical and also allow ourselves to protect ourselves.
I am sure that if I were to offer something, there would be many cynical critics who would say how trite or contrived.
So let's see what the community has to say first.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
With this many replies I would have thougth someone would already have mentioned the Association for Computing Machinery's code of ethics: http://www.acm.org/constitution/code.html
It is sad that this kind of "whatever" mentality is prevelant even among the non-teenage highschool dropout group.
This is bad news not only for the industry, but for the whole country.
To see responsible professional attitude, just look at Germany. Their engineering is the envy of the world.
To see Mr. Schumin's attitude in widespread use, visit Russia. The world's most expensive dump; all because the prevailing mentality there is "screw your neighbour if you can get away with it."
Over and out.
Janimal
I myself run a small business, dealing with consulting to many different companies, mostly based around IT.
However, I take the standpoint, that I don't believe a lot of people in the industry take. I am merely as a consultant, working for the company part time. It is still my job, to take the interests of that company, to be the most important.
At the end of the day, this means being fair, and whilst my fees per hour usually do not change, I will attempt to give them the best possible deal economically, and evaluate these situations.
My recommendations are based upon what the company NEEDS, what the company can afford, even whether they can afford my time. It is this attitude that has built up for myself a business rep, and based upon this I have healthy business relationship with many clients.
In so far as other consultancy, once again, my interests are for the company. I would call a meeting with the GM, or 2IC etc.., to, as fairly and as calmy as possible, say, I don't believe you need this technology, these are the reasons a) b) and c), and here are your different alternatives. These are the possible reasons why what is being recommended is good, and weigh them up and give your evaluation of the pros vs the cons.
Being able to evaluate in this fashion, demonstrates an unobjective ability, and they should at least be able to consider what it is you have to recommend.
Having said that, a number of times, I have had competing interests recommend solutions, to which I can, and will only say, correct, what they have recommended is a good solution, and will work well for you.
It comes down, to you are consulting in the interests of your client, not necessarily just IT.
But as a result of many horror stories from my own experience and that of my friends, I decided to stop dealing with them and I explain why publicly in Important Note to Recruiters and Contract Agencies.
To make it easier for other consultants to not have to deal with recruiters, I wrote Market Yourself - Tips for High-Tech Consultants.
To directly address the question, though, I think ethics are of the highest importance in the work of a consultant, and are probably the most important guide for you to follow, more important than writing good code. You at least have the hope of debugging bad code.
The question goes both ways though, clients are occassionally unethical and many clients who wouldn't think of screwing you if you were a full-time employee would be happy to short you for weeks of pay earned as a consultant.
You have to protect yourself, start early by finding a good attorney before taking on work - certainly before trouble starts - and have your attorney review all your contracts before you sign them.
Also trust in your feelings and don't do business with someone you feel is not ethical. It's just not worth the heartache.
Michael D. Crawford
GoingWare Inc
-- Could you use my software consulting serv
Computer consulting is like any other service in which there are significant informational asymmetries. Other examples would be auto mechanics, lawyers, and building contractors. Each of those fields one could argue are more infamously rife with unscrupulous and unsavory characters.
Among solutions to the problem in these other fields for those who solicit these services are (i) getting a second opinion and (ii) hiring an independent 3rd party with subject knowledge in an oversight capacity.
The reality we live in dictates caveat emptor; that is, it is ultimately up to the consumer of the services to protect themselves against their own lack of knowledge. If I were contracting a computer consultant knowing that there was no in-house expertise to monitor the quality of the work and the contract were for a sufficient amount to justify the expense, it would be worth it to hire a 3rd party to monitor the consultant(s). I also regularly recommend to people trying to build a technical department from scratch to hire someone with field knowledge on an hourly basis to assist in the interview process.
Fortunately for most in the U.S., my experience in the U.S. is that (perhaps due to the legacy of those wacky pilgrims, perhaps due to reputation effects), the average level of ethical behavior does seem to exceed that of other places based on reputation. (Russia and a number of developing economics spring to mind -- I hope I'm not being myopic or unfairly generalizing with that statement.)
-- My choice of computing platform is a symbol of my individuality and belief in personal freedom.
Misleading is more like it. Ethics are very important.
I know that it's easy sometimes to think that so many people do not behave ethically, but to succumb to this is just helping it along. People usually think before they do something they know is unethical (at least at the beginning), and they'll usually look at their peers to see how they behave. If the peers post messages like the one above, the person on the verge of making an unethical decision will likely think, "oh what the hell, everybody's doing it! If I stay out, I'll be left behind."
This is not what you want. Ethics do matter, and as long as you can set a right example, or make the right comment on an issue, DO IT.. because the idiots listen.
Janimal
Check out the ACM and the IEEE and the AITP these are all professional org. that relate to the computer industry.. they all have a code of ethics.. In fact the ACM and IEEE did a joint code of ethics for Software engieers. I think they are at www.acm.org www.computers.org It's not that we need a code of ethics.. it's that we need more people following the code of ethics that are there..
And what have you done lately mother theresa? Volunteered as a dickhead on slashdot?
Selecting good suppliers is a part of business. Restauranteurs that select unreliable dairy suppliers go out of business. Companys that select bad computer consultants are in a world of hurt too. It doesn't mean that the consultant isn't wrong -- they were wrong to provide bad service, but the person who hired them is also at fault. I've hired some bad auto mechanics in my day and they were wrong to scam me, and I was wrong to retain their services. Now I check with friends more knowledgeable about auto-repair than I before giving money to a mechanic.
Yesterday I spent a few hours at a local not-for-profit group helping them to evaluate a consultant they're considering retaining. The group understood they didn't have the skill set to hire a consultant and they went out side their organization for help in doing so.
--
You asked for a good ethics book. Well...you can learn from good and bad examples. ;-)
In so many fields there are accrediations or associations that are meaningful and provide the consumer or client information to determine quality of the professional. Computer consulting (as well as management consulting) would benefit from such a method. I left a large consulting firm because almost everyone was focused on becoming partner first and serving the client second. I implemented more lame computer systems than I care to ever admit. Establishing minimum standards for project management, gathering specs., defining the scope, customer management, etc. would be great for the field. I enjoy consulting, but I seem to spend so much time during the sales cycle dealing with the consulting stereotype because so many consultants don't do anything or know enough. There is also a need for clients to take responsibility for understanding the proposed solutions. One professor at graduate school told me that almost 90% of technology projects were a waste of resources and never realized their full potential. With such a high percentage, it seems that management also needs to play a more active role in learning, understanding, and managing technology projects.
[voice of Foghorn Leghorn]: "Ethics, I say, ethics? Why, ethics got no place in business, boy!"
Sacred cows make the best burgers.
I have found that working for both small and large firms alike that most likely the small firms will be the ones that perform unethically. Things such as selling pirated software to a customer, misquoting job installation times and treating and paying their employees poorly are very common here.
I have also seen local companies strike up partnerships with other ISPs, NSPs, repair shops in an effort to steal their customers. During interviews with employees, they have contributed other companies customer lists and pursued customers right after leaving a competitor. Now, you made reference to slimy salesmen as part of your article. Unfortunately you will continue to have to deal with them in larger consulting organizations. It is common for salesmen to sell solutions that have no actual bearing to what the customer wants.
I agree fully in that there should be some type of spoken or written ethics for consultants to follow. Are there any firms that have a set and adhere to them?
-Pat
When I first joined this illustrious profession, in 1979, there was a well-known instance of this kind of thing. At Blue Cross/Blue Shield of NY, a certain consulting company had imbedded itself so deeply that they were practically running the place. Rumor had it that if you applied for a job there, you would be interview by a consultant, who reported to another consultant, etc, etc. The place was infested with them! They billed hundreds of millions of dollars over a few years, and never did manage to finish the Medical/Surgical system they were hired for. Curiously, every programmer and recruiter in the city had heard about what was going on, but BC/BS was unable to free themselves from this deadly embrace. I don't believe the company had to worry about its next contract, they raked in so much money.
I believe there are equivalent companies nowadays, although they might be a little more subtle about it. It is pretty well known that if you invite in the consulting arm of one of the big six accounting firms, you'll be paying millions to be told whatever you want to hear--and whatever you do, don't let them develop any systems.
It's one of the oldest tricks in the book for a consulting company to make a system so complex that only they can maintain it. I've heard many stories about consultants, small and large, who kept the source code and charged the customer exorbitant fees for simple fixes. Even if they let you see the code, the usual reaction is to shudder and give it back.
I am a computer consultant for a small firm who regulary partners with the big guys. Often Anderson, Deloitte, E&Y will subcontract to us. Time after time I see these companies bringing people into the project with little and no experience. These companies expect their consultants to learn of the job, while billing several hunderd dollars an hour. To me this is one of the bigger problems in the world of consulting. On top of that it seems like companies use the big 5 merely because of thier size. Why is this? What will it take for company management to realize that bigger is not always better? My experience has shown me that the better consultants go off on their own. Bottom line: Just like politicians the companies that are the most powerful, are usually the most unethical
Basicaly, if a person sold cars like the way we sell software, they would be in prison. If you sold Real Estate in the same way software is sold, you would also go to prison. Selling software (and associated services) is so much just selling ideas about software. This makes for huge opportunities for fakers, liars, charlatans, con men and unethical people of all sorts.
When it comes to professional standards to work by, I think IEEE has a pretty good set of standards. Even if you are not a member, I think that they provide good guidelines in the area of technology.
my $.02
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
The difference between a bad consultant and a stupid consultant can be small to none sometimes. Insufficiant knowledge can have the same effect as malicious exploitation. In other professions, change is slow enough that standards about training can be made in a rational manner. There is no such luxury of time in computers.
This, along with a relatively low understanding of computers in the general populace, makes people think that it's a good idea to hire 16 year old neighbor kid to design their network based on the fact that he/she is a "whiz"(knows slightly more that you).
Not only are there no standards for education but even among knowledgeable people there is disagreement over many things. What do you do with a proprietaty system that works for the client? What if the company that supports the system is having financial trouble? At what point do you transfer the client to a new system? What if the choice you have between different systems is a bad choice or writing your own? Is it wrong to move a client to a system that only you know about?
The same as you don't expect contractors to build your house OK without any supervision someone hiring a consultant should not blindly expect that everything will be done perfectly without any of your own interference. Get the consultant to make promisies on paper and give them deadlines. This way you can take legal action if they prove to be incompetent or devious.
This touches on matters both of ethics and of engineering judgement.
You say, I should just write it to spec, but in practice I often don't have that detailed of a spec. In my work I write software on contract (rather than install systems or set up networks), usually for software publishers and sometimes for websites.
I frequently do ports or complete rewrites to a new OS, and it is common for my spec to consist of nothing more than a working Windows version of a program and a request to make it work "just like it" on the Mac.
The problem is things are done differently on the Mac than on Windows, both internally in the code we write and what the user expects. I feel it is important to give a client a product that will make their Mac users happy, even when the client is a Windows user/developer, and either doesn't understand the Mac or doesn't agree with it.
A more serious question is when the client is asking for shoddy work. I make it clear to my clients that I do high quality work, and they shouldn't come to me if they want crappy, cheap software. But sometimes that's exactly what they want, in part because they want to cut development costs and also because they believe (I feel mistakenly) that they will reduce their time to market by sacrificing sound engineering principles.
One thing I have started to do is to redesign my website to emphasize my ideals of quality work, as opposed to the spam I get that advertised offshore software development for $25/hour or less. Yes, this likely scares off some potential clients but they're probably the ones that would give me a pain in the backside anyway.
I do try to involve the client in the decisions. The problem is that they are often not technically competent to help me make the judgement, and their arguments make this resoundingly clear. So very often I just go off and do what I think is in my client's best interests even if I know they disagree with it.
Michael D. Crawford
GoingWare Inc
-- Could you use my software consulting serv
Why couldn't you rip off companies AND feel proud at the same time? I don't see a conflict of any sort there.
The client is usually not stupid, but rather ignorant in a case such as this. If the client was stupid, their business would more than likely be in such bad shape, they wouldn't be able to afford something outrageous. Working on the assumption that the client, is indeed, NOT stupid (keep in mind, businesses are no stranger to dishonesty, especially in this country): It is only a matter of time before the client finds out that they've been bent over, and when they do... that consultant will be toast, especially if he/she doesn't have a written legal agreement with the client. Chances are also good that word will get around the area (or even better, the internet!) quickly, and that person will have a very hard getting clients from then on, with their newfound reputation. Bottom Line: Stay honest, last longer, and you will make more money in the long run!
Once upon a time there was a shepherd tending his sheep at the edge of a country road. A brand new Jeep Grand Cherokee screeches to a halt next to him. The driver, a young man dressed in a Brioni suit, Cerrutti shoes, Ray-Ban glasses, and Jovial Swiss wrist watch, gets out and asks the shepherd: "If I guess how many sheep you have, will you give me one of them?" The shepherd looks at the young man, then looks at the sprawling field of sheep and says: "Okay." The young man parks the SUV, connects his notebook and wireless modem, enters a NASA site, scans the ground using his GPS, opens a database and 60 Excel tables filled with algorithms, then prints a 150 page report on his high tech mini printer. He then turns to the shepherd and says: "You have exactly 1,586 sheep here." The shepherd answers: "That's correct, you can have your sheep." The young man takes one of the animals and puts it in the back of his vehicle. The shepherd looks at him and asks: "Now, if I guess your profession, will you pay me back in kind?" The young man answers: "Sure." The shepherd says: "You are a consultant." "Exactly! How did you know," asks the young man? Very simple, answers the shepherd. "First, you came here without being called. Second, you charged me a fee to tell me something I already knew. Third, you do not understand anything about my business and I'd really like to have my dog back."
"Consider how lucky you are that life has been good to you so far. Alternatively, if life hasn't been good to you so far
Friends hire friends, kick backs, under the table, overpriced consultancy. its the "good ole boys'" syndrome in most cases. its sad that business is "dirty" but it is how it has always existed, and always will..
===sam=== free nessus vulnerability scan = www.vulnerabilities.org
If you think this bad, check out this letter to Iambe. Our industry has its rotten spots alright.
--
Remove the rocks to send email
On the whole, I find that I prefer Slashdot posts to twitter ones because I don't get limited to 140 chars before
The Internet is like that - in that information spreads effectively instantaneously throughout its body, and it helps a great deal with ethical problems with business (as well as failures in things like customer service) and is discussed extensively by The Cluetrain Manifesto.
To make the most effective use of the Cluetrain, we must be willing to speak out in public fora on the Internet, and the book version of the Cluetrain quotes a profound speech made a hundred years ago that urges us to Make a Bonfire of Your Reputations - that is, when you have something important to say, say it, and don't let fear of others' scorn stop you.
Michael D. Crawford
GoingWare Inc
-- Could you use my software consulting serv
ONE. Rat out the cheats when you see them, being careful to also refer the potential sucker, ..er abused client, to a firm (not yours) for a second opinion or a redo of the work itself.
TWO. Trust that Darwinism applys to all dynamic ecosystems. These weasels will eventually be selected out of the system.
"A microprocessor... is a terrible thing to waste." --
"A microprocessor... is a terrible thing to waste." --
GeneralEmergency
"Whoever has the most money when the die, wins."
Slashdot 's editors are dickheads
The main problem is the fact that most companies don't look for service per se, but what they can get for a cheap price. Also, there are consultants out there that are pissed because they are also getting screwed by the company. I was a consultant for 2 years and others at my site felt that the people getting the service should only get the quality equal to their own salaries. With most consulting companies, the consultant only receives about a third of what the parent company pays. The consulting company gets two-thirds for doing nothing but sitting in their off-site offices and expecting their people to do the right thing. My consulting company was making $22/hr for signing a check every week. The only time I actually saw reps from my company was the day my contract ended to escort me out of the building. There really isn't any truth in consulting. But, The REAL TRUTH is out there!!!
His son nods. "Yes Dad, I'll do my best to live up to your standards."
"Son", his father continues, "Suppose a customer comes in. She buys $5 worth of goods, says 'I only have a fifty' and hands over the money. So you give her change, and she leaves the store."
"You then notice that she didn't give you a fifty, but a one hundred dollar bill. But you look up and she's already walking down the road. Now here's the ethics question:"
"Yes Dad?"
"The question is: Do you tell your business partner?"
--
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
The question of ethics does sound reasonable on the face of it, but in reality it has only the slightest relevance in the current technical, political and economic climate.
The western world runs on deals and power and money and technology, not on ethics. Ethics is given lip service occasionally, but only in the context of "if one doesn't stay roughly in the ethical/PC ballpark known and loved by Joe Six-pack then markets or politicians may suffer and that would be bad". That's the only real relevance of "ethics" in our third of the globe, ie. the relevance is minimal, and I'm sure that for many even mentioning the word ethics in such a barely ethical context is a travesty.
Consultants merely play their part in this scheme of things. Some may recommend GPL'd software for the Navy and some may recommend Microsoft, but don't look for reasons based on ethics for their decisions. The driving force may be power, money, freedom, technological competence or lack thereof, and personal or institutional politics of many different types, but not ethics. And for that matter the recommendations won't be objective either, regardless of the side of the fence on which one sits.
Whether that's good or bad is a totally different question, and not necessarily one with an obvious or simple answer. But for better or for worse, that's how our world works today.
"The question of whether machines can think is no more interesting than [] whether submarines can swim" - Dijkstra
In other words, that certification should be handled by a group that is not beholden to a particular company's technologies or "vision".
Groups like the IEEE and NCEES have long had these professional standards and certifications in place for real engineers, but unfortunately most IT professional fall in a gray area between vo-tech and engineering. I'm not saying that IT jobs are "easier" or less intellectually demanding than jobs that required old-school degreed engineers -- rather, the extreme market forces of the last five years have force many, many smart people to bail out of their college degree track and go for the gold.
Because of that, these organizations are finding that lots of IT professionals are not being educated on the responsibilities of the technical professional, include in particular ethical responsibilities. A whole raft of talent is set adrift ...
For a professional engineer, this topic is a no-brainer: as a consultant, you must act in the best interest of your paying customer.
To see it in black and white, read the short and simple IEEE Code of Ethics.
One simple rule for its versus it's
I am a consultant in the fast paced B2B market. While I appreciate the quandry, I don't think there's a cut and dry answer here. I always enter a site with the intention of doing what's best for the customer. However, I often find that the customer is not educated nearly enough for the project they are undertaking. Further, for all the allegations that they look to me for solutions, they often are looking to me for an answer they already have in mind. So, what do I do then? Give them what they want despite the fact that, according to my expertise it isn't the best answer for them? Often the situation can leave me looking like I'm doing a pretty shoddy job for the customer.
Many of these startup dot coms that I have dealt with have a completely non-viable business plan. Should I recuse my services at that point because nothing I can do will make their business plan viable? I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't think you can easily enumerate a set of ethical guidelines which will help you for anything but the most basic and obvious of situations. I think you should make every effort to do what's best for the customer, but that is very different for each customer and each situation.
Yu Suzuki
Yu Suzuki
Deamcast. It's thinking.
Canadian Information Processing Society. Standards, ethics, everthing you're looking for except a rating system. They do make an honest effort to police the ranks and ensure that qualifications are checked. Candidates for membership are even screened for competency. Australia has one as well, I'm surprised the U.S. doesn't.
Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of state and corporate power.
I found her PDF on how to Market Your Consulting Services very helpful in my own practice - and she's got a lot of tips that I don't mention on my own marketing tips page above (while I have some she doesn't mention).
I've also found that Janet has been quite helpful and responsive in answering the occasional questions I've emailed to her.
In general, I prefer the resume sites which do not require a fee for the end client to search and get meaningful contact information from. Some of these require a small but very reasonable fee from the consultant, some are supported by advertising.
You'll probably find as I do that the sites that require the client to pay a few are frequented mostly by headhunters, and they also often don't allow search engines to index them, so your clients won't find you.
Other sites I recommend are The Software Contractor's Guild and Guru.com - know any others?
Finally, read alt.computer.consultants.moderated - but be sure to read the moderated newsgroup, the unmoderated one has gone all to hell.
Michael D. Crawford
GoingWare Inc
-- Could you use my software consulting serv
I was in an outlet of a large computer chain the other day.
There was this old couple that wanted to buy a computer, and I heard them say that they wanted a computer so they could exchange email with their children and grandchildren.
The salesmen was then pushing CD Burners, Network Cards, Modems (yes, both), 21" monitors, 1 ghz processors, etc.
This reminds me of the times in the 1800's (or earlier, I can't remember anymore, thats school for you) where not many people could read, and thus the priests could tell those people what the bible said. And since the people could not read, they could not find out the truth for themselves.
Computer user groups should make themselves available to people who do not understand computers enough so that they know enough to be able to buy exactly what they want, and not get ripped off by a sleazebag salesman who wants to become the sales-person of the month.
Nothing's stopping you from doing a better job. You go write an OS and then deal with morons who think that YOU should have written all the printer drivers for every printer ever created in the world, instead of the manufacturer. You go tell that mom-and-pop organization to hire you to scrap their windows-based computing and then install every application that is comparable to the ones they were previously using, on a Linux environment. You provide them all the training that they need to unlearn windows and learn Linux (and all those other apps). None of this is particularly complicated, but somehow it escapes 90% of every /. poster's mind that their time could be worth more if they were implementing Linux in the real world, instead of bashing Windows in the virtual one.
Protector of Capitalist views,
Protector of Capitalist views,
Meorah
I consider my self a geek, and as a true geek I got picked on. My feelings of revenge against my oppressors are blocked by my sense of honor. If someone does not know something it is because they are better at something else. Knowledge is power and it is not wise to abuse your power. Take this example. A Korean woman got a computer and as a show of respect for her computer she gave it an offering of rice by putting it in the floppy drive. She wanted to the computer to work properly so she did the best thing she knew how to make the thing run better, a common goal we all have.
There is a set of established code of ethics for computer professionals, at least for those who are members of IEEE or ACM.
IEEE Code of Ethics
ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct
ACM/IEEE Computer Society Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice
cb
cb
Oooh! What does this button do!?
... was journalistics. So, speaking in your terms, we get true definition for the PC press such as ZD Net et al ;-)
Tigers respect lions, elephants and hippos. Maggots respect no one. (C) S. Dovlatov
I'm a Computer Science major at a smallish public university in Virginia, and it is required for us to take an Ethics course (maybe even 2, im not that sure). The way the world outside of academia seems to work, I can see why they're trying to at least get us to act morally in our decisions and such...but unfortunately this does'nt happen when you have bills to pay. you can't be completely honest all the time, or you'll go broke and somebody else that has no conscience will come behind you and rip them off for even more. Thats my two cents on this issue.
"I am never less alone than when alone" --Scipio Africanus
Good consultants have good ethics, and are rewarded for it.
When I did consulting, I tried to make the best recommendation for the client.
I was asked "wasn't I worried I'd be putting myself out of a job?"
and I said "that's my goal. that way, the next time you need a recommendation or new solution, you'll remember how good the solution I brought last time worked, and you'll call me."
The only reason bad consultants are able to continually rip-off companies is, they make a bad solution and the company figures they already have the investment in the solution and want to get the same consultant to fix it. This is a slippery slope to losing cash quickly.
A host is a host from coast to coast, but no one uses a host that's close
At one job, I had the choice of choosing linux or M$.
I knew I was leaving the country, but could be reached for advice on maintaining whichever solution I recommended.
I wasn't about to recommend a solution that they couldn't get service on easily.
In the end, I got them Dell Hardware, with the option of going linux in the future, but preinstalled with M$. Why? I didn't trust the Dell people who would be providing the Linux service, after questioning them personally. (This was in another country, outside of the US. I have since moved back.)
Yes, I was conflicted about recommending an M$ solution, but I had to take the clients' needs into account. Which box could I have turned on and forgotten behind a hardware firewall, and know that it works, and it if doesn't, know that MSCE's are a dime a dozen?
A host is a host from coast to coast, but no one uses a host that's close
This topic has nothing to do with ethics in consulting. There are "rotten apples" in every industry. It has nothing to do with the industries themselves. Just 'cause a postal worker shoots a lot of people doesn't make the important question "what should we do to make sure postal workers don't shoot people".
Please people, understand the language you are using. To beg a question means to ask it as if the answer is already known. It does not mean that it calls for a question.
This doesn't seem to stop most consultants from doing so. Personally, I don't have any objection to logo coffee cups and T-shirts, but I tend to feel a bit guilty accepting a free lunch from vendors.
I do not deploy Linux. Ever.
I once saw a software development house, recieve a large amount of money from a start-up to "pretend" they had a product in development. They lied about the state of the product, the number of people working on it, the physical space they were working in and the stage of development (zero). They did this in front of a group of investers in order to fool them into investing money in the start-up. Professional ethics? Good Idea.
Believe me, the integrators don't want time/material contracts any more than you do. At least, the one I work for doesn't. However, when clients regularly ask for fixed price but do not have adequate specifications (often not even an adequate business case) then we either have the choice of offering a hugely inflated fixed price contract (and generally we'll only do that if it's a Really Important Customer) or a time/material contract.
The first thing that I'll do if I'm managing an engagement is to offer a time/material 4-6 weeks requirements phase or phase 0-- generally 1-2 consultants,an IT architect, and a project manager, depending on what's known, the complexity of the project, and the deadline. Based on the outcome of that engagement, we can provide a realistic planning, an organizational structure (who can we provide, who can they provide) and even-- gasp-- a realistic budget. When I'm able to get the customer to agree to a realistic planning phase, then I can bring a project in on time and within budget.
This may differ depending on the kinds of projects that you do, but I often feel-- as far as requirements go-- as though I were standing in a department store and have to make a purchase and the only information I have to start with is "The item I seek is blue. The item I seek must open and close."
A client can protect itself against most of the worst ethical practises of consultancy houses by being clear about its requirements! And remembering that requirements are more than lists of features. A customer who can, for a particular project, provide the following items will be light years ahead of their neighbor down the block who calls Very Large Company and tells them they need "something with personalization, something with CRM":
Business case (unique selling point)
Stakeholder list (who's going to use the new system)
User scenarios (how are the stakeholders are going to use it)
Pre-existing constraints (we have lots of expertise in xxx, so it must utilize xxx databases)
*****
Given this information, a good consultant/IT Architect can help place requirements in context of importance and will not have the room to recommend gratuitously useless software pieces.
I see more cases of missing information/cluelessness than I do actual dishonesty.
anyhoo
Because the snark was a...
There are many anti consultant posts to this question, so I'll play devils advocate just for the heck of it.
Many companies outsource a large portion of their technical needs to half-competent consultants because, even with the problems and mistakes, it's still cheaper than hiring a full timer. Companies are continually finding that ousourcing is extremely economical.
http://www.acm.org/constitution/code.html
The book we use is:
Computer Ethics by Deborah G. Johnson
Third Edition
ISBN: 0-13-083699-0
It is publiced by Prentice Hall
I just got it so I can't tell you whether it is a good book or not.
About availability: I bought it from the college, but I heard they had real difficulty getting it.
I was working for a company providing IT products and "solutions" in 1994. It was the typical set up, money hungry arseholes running the company, paying big bucks to fast talking clueless arseholes to market crap products and sometimes good products to the wrong people, every now and then, they'd get it right. Because these products were mostly NEC and Cubix, they had "genuine part numbers", which meant if they were IDE hard drives, CPU's or RAM, they were usually more than twice the price of EXACTLY the same product that could be purchased elsewhere. Of course, this companies support dept was staffed by geeky kinda guys that really did know their shit, had pride in their work and cared for the customer. Naturally, these people had practically no say in the direction of the company and where not paid anywhere near what the marketting dept was getting. After numerous customers complaining to me that they were sold products that were "not working" (not appropriate), I could'nt take it any more, I suggested they were given the wrong solutions, suggested appropriate ones and twice suggested where to buy hardware at half our price.... I was fired. The World seems to be full of loud people of very ordinary ability and few quiet people that really know their stuff who rarely get heard over these arseholes. Bullshit, makes the World go round because it's full of morons who know how to manipulate lesser morons. It seems the gifted can only sit back and watch this bustle of stupidity. (I'm not suggesting that this reflects anything about NEC or Cubix, we just sold their stuff).
War crimes, torture, lies, illegal spying... Would someone give Bush a blowjob, already, so he can be impeached?
Actually you have to have journeymanned for two
years and get state certified before you can be a
professional plumber. At least that's the way it
works in Illinois.
Kashani
- Why is the ninja... so deadly?
In dealing with some of these people, I've found that the ones with more experience are usually pretty reputable and responsible--they just hunker down and want to get the job done, generally working 1.5-2 times what the salaried employees put in. They are paid accordingly, but get little respect. My general observation has been that the permies goof off a lot more, a la Dilbert, but that as a contractor you really can't measure yourself by that. You are paid more, and it is a given that you set a much higher bar for yourself.
However, it's also come to my notice that a lot of the contractors in admin-type jobs very often spend time goofing off, quietly collecting money. Above a certain size, companies tend to lack the awareness or dynamism it takes to root out the less astute among their consultants, relying instead on general purges ("we're going to make everyone a permanent employee.")
My solution has just been to try to do the best job I can, and to make everyone extremely satisfied with the performance they're getting for their dollar. I'm expensive, but I'm definitely worth it--I think it's really up to individuals to promote a good work ethic. Word gets around awfully fast if you're a stinker.
Cole's Law: Thinly sliced cabbage
For those wondering What's so bad about Microsoft, you can check here.
For those not sure what to recommend with ethical concerns, offer a choice, let them know about MS ethics, but that Linux (or other option) is maybe not the best solution.
Then it's the choice of the customer.
We asked her about it with this question: "So you're saying we should lie to get a contract?" and she replied "Most definitely".
I wish to god this wasn't a made up story...
DOS is dead, and no one cares...
DOS is dead, and no one cares...
If there's a Bourne Shell, I'll see you there
I've been a consultant for about 12 years, and I've seen consultants regularly screw over clients by (among other things) advise the client to take a course of action that is not necessarily in the best interests of the client, but the consultant, justifying it by saying "it's just our opinion". Bah. I've never screwed over a client, and I really get tired of listening to those who come into a client site with an agenda, either personal or technical. "XXX operating system is the greatest things since sliced bread, and you've got to install it on every machine you own!" Obvious nonsense.
-- Ed Carp, N7EKG erc@pobox.com PGP KeyID: 0x0BD32C9B What I'm up to: http://intuitives.mine.nu
...what can be adequately ascribed to stupidity.
I've been a consultant in the greater Philadelphia area for nearly ten years now, working both for larger firms and now for my own firm. If there's one thing that I've managed to figure out, it's that there sure are a hell of a lot of amateurs out there calling themselves consultants.
The demand for talented consultants (and software developers in general) has exceeded supply since the mid-90s; as a result, there are a lot of not-so-talented consultants on the market. Because demand is so strong, many of them can succeed indefinitely without really being particularly talented in either a business or a technical sense. My most recent employer is a prime example: supposedly a full-services consulting firm, 110 people, $16 million in revenue a year, and they had to call me when their Internet connection went down due to a DNS screwup by their provider.
Also, our clients (in general) are trusting us to make the right decision and poorly equipped to evaluate our decisions early, so it's not immediately apparent when they're being hosed by their consultant. Most clients will attempt to evaluate the quality of a consultant up front by comparing past experience and skills to their needs, but for most non-technical clients the process degenerates into "does this person have technology X on their resume" rather than "is this person able to solve my problem for me." Even when a system starts to have problems, many clients will chalk it up to the inevitable suckitude of computers or software.
I wholeheartedly agree with those who have already mentioned that your reputation catches up to you, that referrals and repeat business are your lifeblood in this industry, and that doing the ethical thing is also the smart thing from a business perspective.
It's absolutely true that there are some consultants out there who are more interested in placing more bodies or extending their own contracts than in solving their clients' problems. Many consultants know how to use only a single tool, and they'll apply that tool relentlessly to any problem, regardless of whether it actually solves the problem.
In general, though, I see more of this behavior coming out of incompetence than out of malice. Many consultants aren't even aware of their limitations, and won't walk away from an assignment for which they're ill-suited even when it's obvious that failure is the only possible outcome.
I always recommend that clients find a consultant they can trust, one that will say "no" to work for which he/she is unsuited, one who will carefully describe all the options available to the client and help the client make the decision, and one who is not afraid to have another consultant look at his/her work. If your consultant just makes decisions for you without involving you in the process, if your consultant can't digest the technical elements of the decision down to terms you understand in the context of your business, or if your consultant turns white when you suggest a code review or a quality audit, fire that consultant immediately and find another. Software is tough enough - you don't need someone who is incompetent developing it for you.
(And if you're a client having a hard time identifying whether a consultant is right for you, send e-mail at the address listed and I'll be happy to help.)
Software Shouldn't Suck
E-mail: frank at jacquette dot spamless com (remove the spamless!)
I follow my better judgement so that at the end of the day I can be proud of myself and my work. I like to go to bed happy, and get up looking forward to my day.
As virtually everyone does, myself included. But if you think that people (including yourself) do as they do because ethics directs their lives then you haven't done any deep introspection. Dive below the easy answers and you'll find that what really controls what "good" people do (good by your very own standard) is their personal need to do what they consider effective and to be seen to do it well. Ethics overlaps with this only minimally.
Like yourself, I'm a developer, and I strive to develop high quality, well engineered, scalable, extensible and maintainable code that performs useful functions, does so efficiently, and also satisfies the business needs of those that are paying for it. I take pride in a job well done, well done by my personal standards which have developed gradually over the years. I bet it's the same for you, because I know it's the same for many other developers who I come across. But the relationship between this and real ethics is minimal, probably as little as the fact that one had a reasonably ethical upbringing and has continued in roughly the same ballpark ever since. Well, that's not ethics at work, it's sheer commonsense and getting on with your neighbour and even political correctness of sorts, an inherently local "getting on" within the communities that one inhabits. It makes the world go 'round, fairly effectively though definitely not fairly, whereas ethical codes have a dangerous propensity to lead to coercion and strife, probably owing to their goal of universalism in a world where values are definitely not universal.
No, ethics is a motherhood-and-apple-pie word that in reality is not very helpful except as a distant backdrop to the real world. That doesn't mean that the real world is wholly unethical, it just means that ethics falls very short of being a grand unified theory.
"The question of whether machines can think is no more interesting than [] whether submarines can swim" - Dijkstra
If you know somebody's behaving like scum, register the complaint to them.
If clients know two words of Latin, like "caveat emptor," they actually call the bureau to check on complaints about a vendor before they issue a contract.
If you're ethical, you get repeat business. If you're not you get complained about. (If you're not and you're sloppy, you get a call from the police.) That's how it works.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
there are no ethics in a free market economy, just look at microsoft.
This is the most ignorant posting I've ever seen to AskSlashdot. I don't mean to slam the person who asked the question, but this is ridiculous. We work in a capitalist market. Salesmen always have and always will try to sell anything. People will maximize their hours on a job for the maximum pay. So all the evil contractors and consultants are being unethical right ? What about the companies themselves, who will misrepresent how screwed up their setup is, causing contractors to underbid jobs, will withhold paying until certain 'extra' changes are made, knowing that the contractor probably doesn't have the money or time to sue them, and the company demanding that the contractor account for every minute billed before being paid, when they had not specified they wanted logged hours in the beginning, forcing the contractor to recall (or makeup) what he did every hour of the hours that he's billing, so he can actually get paid. When it comes to contracting and consulting, the businesses are in a serious position of power, and most of them know it. I've had MANY businesses refuse to pay the bill and demand that I work more (at no additional charge), or claim that my hours are false. I can't afford to work 18 hours on a contract, driving halfway across San Diego County to get screwed out of the pay. So what power do the consultants and contractors have ? They have the power of knowledge. What I've learned is this, although they hold the power of the paycheck, I hold the power of the production systems. If they are refusing to pay, shut them down. I've done it twice, and I had my check the next day. I've had someone tell me that's illegal or unethical. I disagree. If you don't pay your power bill, they turn off the power. If you don't pay for your car, they take it back. If you don't pay for your computer work, I turn off your computers. As for the issue of contractors spending extra hours on the job in order to pad their paychecks, I say more power to them. I see consultants and contractors from consulting companies charging rates of $150 or $200 an hour for someone that knows far less than I do. Most of that money goes to the company, the consultant getting maybe $20-$30. But because I'm not being sent out by a big company, there's no way I could get away with charging $150 an hour. So what do I do ? I charge $50 an hour and take 3 times longer to get the work done. It's really up to the business. You pay what I ask for, I'll get your work done fast and correctly. You pay me jack shit, I'll mess around until my hourly wage comes up to where it should be.
What it all comes down to is this. There are business people and there are computer people. Business people often look down on computer people like they aren't professionals, but instead just 'techies' like some advanced form of laborer. Business people try to play like they know computers, but most of them secretly hate computers and computer people. Business people treat computer people like shit, like we're all a bunch of socially inept morons who never leave the house. This attitude will eventually have to stop, but until it does, I just know one thing that keeps me from getting upset about it all. Knowledge is power. Companies have the paychecks, but if their computers aren't running, there's no money in the bank. They can threaten to sue, but by the time they got you in court, they'd be out so much frickin money from the computer downtime, it wouldn't be worth it to fight you over a couple hundred dollars.
Use your knowledge as power and don't let these business types treat you badly. You are the professional, you have the knowledge, THEY NEED YOU.
The ACM's code of ethics is a good place to start.
When I was at University we had to write an essay about ethics in IT and why the was no defined code of ethics in the IT field.
Well, Why isn't there?
In my eyes it is because the IT field (unlike most professions) is a mish mash of so many existing fields such as Commerce, Retail, Engineering etc... Most fields have a code of Ethics attatched because the Public can see the effects of them.
Engineering, well, that bridge was built be engineers, I want to have faith that it won't fall down while I am on it.
Doctors, if I'm sick I want to be cured and not have my health put at risk.
Accounting, I am putting my Business/finances in the hands of these people, if they muck it up I could have nothing.
It is very easy for the general Public to see the effect of these fields on thier life, but IT is a different beast entirely. It's not that people don't understand the effects of computers on their life, but the people who provide computers to them, well, ummm, if something goes wrong, that just happens (Windows anyone???)
IT needs two things
One - The public to be educated (But that's not happening for a long time, but with children getting in to computers at an early age it will eventually happen)
Two - Accountability. If you buy a car and it breaks down, you take it back and get it fixed. If you by a computer and it crashes, you take it back, have it looked at, told to buy program "X" that will ensure that the OS will run smoothly, but Program "X" won't work with Program "Y" so you need Prgram "Z" to ensure that they can co-exist. there is, unfortunatly, no accountability in Computing
it is easier for the public to believe that there are no ethics in IT, then when things go bad (and they often do, to varying degrees) it's just to be expected, it saves a lot of questions to which the answers are un-understandable to the general Public
Trav
Leg Godt!
Most people in the field (not only consultants) are in there for just the money, they have no idea WHAT they are doing (or at least it doesn't look like it).
They throw around a lot of impressive words (sometimes not even in a way that it makes sense) and then when it goes wrong you're (or I) are the idiot who can pick it up.
People don't quite understand my reasoning why I am against most people in the industry, for them everybody is the same (the more certs you have the better), but I see this job like that of a doctor: I rather go to one who does it out of passion, not out of monetary reasons.
Just my 2 cents.
If you want to e-mail me, use my PGP Key.
Try this book, Consulting Demons : Inside the Unscrupulous World of Global Corporate Consulting.
I have worked with many Consulting Firms. Here is the problems I see: 1. Consluting firms have no idea what their doing usually. 2. Consulting firms have no idea what a "real" Information Security program is. 3. If they do know what a real information security program is they dont want to implement it for their clients due to the fact that it will reduce the need for said consultants. Unless of course Said consulting firms have management contracts with their clients, meaning the clients can not manage their own systems by contract. Then the firms will lock down the systems tighter than a drum to avoid needless maintainence due to user error or otherwise. 4. Consluting Firms Prey on users ignorance, and usually like to see users "mucking" with their systems to promote more business. i.e. users hosing their systems. see line 3 5. Consluting firms are in it for the money, not the ethics or client relations. 6. When was the last time you seen a consulting firm hand control of managed systems With "PROPER" documentation to their clients? nuff said
So you've worked your magic, and it all goes great, they should be happy as a DIMM in a gold contacted socket. Right?
We should also consider/acknowledge the other big issue here: the "Ethics of being a Client". I am certain that I am not the only one who has experienced a client who finds it easier (read: more economical) to simply tell you to "go screw", "uh, we are having cash flow problems...", etc. when the bill is due than to pay. They can always find another consultant to take your place, thus repeating the process. I'm sure that there are as many variations on this theme as there are consultants who have experienced it.
Clients like this make me question whether being ethical in my business practices is economically "worth" it. Especially since proactively \defending\ yourself can readily wind you up in "unethical" territory.
http://www.acm.org/constitution/code.html
Most of the dotcoms are STILL here. Just the flaky ones are gone.
Do you mean a full-time on-staff employee? What would they do all day? Install a router and/or firewall properly, and you're pretty much done except for the occasional downtime, at which point you call your provider. I've never heard of a company with a single frac- or full-T having a full-time maintainer. They'd have a heck of a lot of free time on their hands!
Too bad most companies have a vision only slightly longer than the end of their eyelashes.
At least some criticism of management comes from not understanding the financial realities of running a profitable business. This seems to be an example of that.
Hmmm... Bitter at not being hired by a consulting company?
Staff is of variable quality. Very often it is wise to have an outside opinion, like when I did a quick security check for a client and found that a network admin had made his home network a trusted IP range so he could get in.
The problem was that this particular admin hadn't worked for the company for two years and the replacement hadn't figured out he should remove that rule from his firewall.
Duh!
DB
Many times I have gone to a store such as Best Buy or some local computer shop and here the guy behind the counter say "well, you need this", or "you should upgrade", or "we'll have to let the techies look at it for $xxxx an hr". So many times I wan to scream out at them, or at least inform the poor customer what the *real* options are. Or how easy it is to copy from one HD to another. In the end, I realize that support is a big thing. Should something go wrong, the store must answer, and so many people want that. So, unless I know somebody wants to work a bit on their own, I bite my tounge and don't say a word. It's better to stay out of it.
ticks = jiffies;
while (ticks == jiffies);
ticks = jiffies;
Have you read my journal today?
I actually picked it up after Katz made reference to it, but don't let that scare you off :-) It covers ethics in a larger social context then your question, but I think there's a lot of parallels between the small issues and the large issues. The fractal nature of the world, I suppose.
The title says "engineering", but it's really about technological advancement in general. And unlike most critiques of technology, it's not by a reactionary with fantasies of hunting and gathering their way to social harmony.
Ebay keeps coming to mind as I read this thread... you get to see all the good and bad about a person over the last 6 months. Since everyone is encouraged to contribute with every sale, there's little negative bias.
~~~LXT~~~
Life is like a computer program: anything that can't happen, will.
It seems that throughout history Russia has repeateldy f*cked the masses for the benefit of the ruling class. The Tsars did it, the communist government did it, the current government is doing it.
Russia has always had a rich and cultured upper class, and an impoverished lower class.
Because this is not a recent phenomenon, you cannot ascribe it to an effect of the poor economic state. Although the economics inevitable are somewhere in the feedback loop that keeps the system there as it is, no matter what kind of political face is prevalent.
Janimal
almost 20 years ago I worked for awhiel asa rep for a magnificient word processor. At the time the "standard" was wordstar.
I still remeber the consultnat/sofwtare dealer I called on and showed hoi m the product, and how I could teach anyone to run it in a hour. His comment?
"Why on earth shoudl I sell soemthing easy to use when I get paid $60.00 an hour to teach my customers WordStar???"
--
we have an Aussie in the house
I've cleaned up too many Big 5 messes to ever have any hope that ethical consulting pays. Far too often, IT managers are stupid, greedy morons, and you have no chance if some a-hole from a huge firm takes them out to golf at a fancy country club or sends them and their spouse on a cruise. A firm like Andertouche & Young will promise these freaks the world, they'll sign, and then they'll send an army of college students who will train on the client's dime and turn out crap for 10x the original bid.
Fortunately, someone with a sense of ethics and pride can make a niche living cleaning up after these jerks. But it's tough, unpleasant work with low margins. I think I'm already burned out.
Lots of people that do what I do don't bother to persue their Professional Engineer status once they've graduated - there are good arguements against it, and some might argue that it doesn't get you very much for a lot of hassle - reviews of logbooks, meetings with P.Eng's to discuss your work, annual dues, etc. I graduated from an electrical engineering program, and proceeded to register with the provincial engineering board here (PE status in the US isn't as recognized, I don't think, as P.Eng up here).
At any rate, the reason that I did this was so that people can look at my business card someday, see the P.Eng, and know that they have a good change of dealing with someone reputable, who won't screw them over, and will do what they said that they would - in short, someone who is accountable for their work.
Right now, the computer consulting industry is a free for all. I can see that changing in the near future, or more likely, after the next big recession happens and people start to look -a lot- more carefully at where their computer IT dollars are going.
I do know that personally, I'm hoping that the industry does become more regulated, because I've seen some real messes that didn't have to happen out there. Regardless of my opinion however, I think higher standards and certifications will be demanded as the industry matures. I also suspect that the professional engineering associations - who are empowered by law to regulate a lot of fields - will play a much bigger and more proactive role in the future.
..don't panic
Note, of course, that not all needs warrant a permanent hire. I'm in the middle of a contract right now teching for a national wireless company bringing up a cellular network in a new market. If we do what we're supposed to, there will be no further reason for them to keep the crew on past the post-launch optimization. Do you really think it right for me to accept such a job and do less than my best?
Which is basically why Eichmann was put on trial. Sometimes you reach the point where ethics demand that you disobey bad orders.
Usually it's the company's fault.
Here is an example...
Company X hires a new VP. He askes for a report about cost analysis of labor (or something like that). The accounting department says that they cannot provide that information because the current accounting system doesn't have the capability to create ad-hoc reports and the canned ones won't answer that question. So, the new VP starts an investigation into the accounting system and determines that it is old outdated and he will make a mark by 'upgrading' the accounting system. He puts together a nice Power Point Presentation and sells it to the CEO. He gets funded.
(up to this point is SOP)
Then he makes the cardinal sin, he says to the accounting vendors, "We are so different that we will have to modify your system to fit our way of doing business. How flexable is your system?" This is the reason that so many consultants get a bad name. They love this guy. He is funded and wants to make modifications to the system. (all under Time and Materials contract) This will always come in over budget and late.
I am a consultant. I suggest SOTS (Standard off the shelf) products to every client. They only take my advice 1/5 times. I end up spending their money to make modifications to a good, debugged application because they do not want to change the way that Mary-in-accounting enters the time sheets! Then they get mad at me for being late and overbudget.
Real life example...
In the division of a big silicon valley company (who the second founder died last month) there are 3 instances of SAP. There are only 125 staff and 1 set of business rules. Each SAP instance is incompatable with the others because in each case there are different core modifications.
Glad the printer division makes so much money.
* "Uncle this droid is malfunctioning" -- Luke Skywalker
Computer Consultants are all over the place in the printing industry. Most of them are nice and informative and I've met quite a number of them. But while each has his or her own experience and methods of planning and suggestion, there is one absolute truth.
Every consultant -- no matter how kind or not -- eventually mentions that "other consultants" don't put the customer first, rip off companies, make decisions based on the commission, and yada, yada, yada. This is usually followed up by some self-serving statement about how "I" don't do those things.
Forget ethics! Where's the truth? "They" can't _all_ be bad. And the person in front of me _at the time_ can't always be the paragon of Good Consulting(tm).
All these guys just need to grow up and stop performing business with Usenet-style flames and snipes.
Fooey.
I was hired by a biggish computer sales/services company almost two years ago. I was working for a high-tech temp agency and this company wanted to hire me full time. I told them up front that they had me for a year and that was it. After a year I planned on starting my own consulting/services firm. They agreed and I did. While I was at the company, my consultant responsibilities were stunted by the corporate beuracracy. If the head office said we were pushing Compaq or Microsoft or Cisco, that's what we had to reccommend. Whether it was what the client needed or not. I decided that when I went out on my own, I would reccommend ONLY what the client needed. Nothing more, nothing less. This has allowed me to establish a thriving business that has been built completely via word of mouth. I've only had one complaint about my pricing ($150.00/hr) and this came from a client that used my proposal to have a friend install their network for a boat ride and a six pack (they ended up calling me in later when things didn't go exactly as they expected - no price complaints). In short, I'm aware of the climate and the market. There IS good money to be made out there. On the other hand, I'd rather make less money on a client if it means doing what's right for THEM. This has paid off long term more than any amount of stickin' it to 'em could have ever. -Sam Dunham http://www.ronintech.com/
Anyone who has had anthing to do with these scumbags will know exactly what I'm talking about. They screwed one UK company for over £1 millions in software costs alone, and 18 months down the line had still not delivered anything tangible. They constantly had at least 2 'consultants' on site, none of which knew anything about the software they were looking after.
Charles Wang makes Bill Gates look like a saint!
David Maister (author of "Managing the Professional Services Firm") has quite a good overview in his book "True Professionalism: The Courage to Care about Your People, Your Clients, and Your Career." Free Press, 1997, ISBN 0-684-83466-9.
Independent Computer Consultants Association (ICCA) is a national not-for-profit association, founded in 1976 with headquarters in St. Louis. ICCA provides professional development opportunities and business support programs for independent computer consultants. ICCA has chapters in many major metropolitan areas representing nearly 1500 consulting firms nationwide. ICCA also offers its members numerous Benefits and Services.
Members of the ICCA abide by a Code of Ethics and adhere to the Standards and Practices of ICCA. Members are computer and software experts who have practical experience with the industry's rapidly changing technology. Members use, recommend and install the latest products, and help corporations and individuals utilize the capabilities of the technology they own.
Membership into ICCA is by firm, ranging from a 1 person, 2-9 person and 10+ person firms. Membership dues are $175, $225 or $275 a year, based on firm size. ICCA chapters have individual dues ranging from $35 to $100 a year, based on your chapter selection. You can join ICCA at any time throughout the year, generating anniversary/renewal date one year from your join date.
Hope this helps,
Berezelius
As a consultant, you are there to suggest/implement the best hardware/software combination for your client, not for yourself. The whole point of your being there is that the client probably can't make the right decision because the client doesn't have the knowledge that you, as the computer specialist, are supposed to have. If you choose to profit yourself at the expense of your client then you are not only harming the client, you are harming your future relations with the client. Further, you are harming the client's view of other consultants.
This attitude is exactly what people make fun of in things like car repair. How often have you heard stories about someone being charged $1000 for a $100 repair? How often do we wonder whether or not the repair shop is reputable?
Do you want people to wonder whether you are reputable because of the actions of others? I don't, but attitudes like the above will ensure that people will.
S.
Forget where I read it, but one consulting firm does deals where they take a lower hourly fee, but get a percent of the demonstrated Return On Investment (ROI) of the solution they come up with. Because their success is tied to the client's success, there is less motivation to pad hours or recommend non-optimal solutions. The quote I read was something to the effect that current consulting practices reward consultants for making mistakes, because it then requires more hours (billable of course) to get back on track. With an equity participation deal, such mistakes hurt the consultant instead of rewarding them.
In 7 years I have yet to work with a consultant or firm that wasn't trying to accomplish the following. 1. Find ways to Create more work for themselves. 2. Find ways to bill more hours per consultant 3. Place more consultants. 4. Operate under a self-preservation methodology. I recently worked on a LARGE project. 1800+ employees and consultants with consultants from at least 10 different firms. The consultants ended up in management positions over company employees. Talk about a living hell. Contract management loved to get employees fired over stupid stuff and replace them with contractors from their firm. Self serving chumps! I have worked with one and only one consultant that performed as promised. He hit all the requirements, timelines, budget restrictions and documented it all. Consultants have a poor track record at best!
"People need reset buttons"
Having owned a consulting company for 5 years, then working as a CTO, now back at a consulting company, I have seen both the good and the bad. At my company, I constantly preached, as did my managers, that honesty was the most important service we could provide to our clients. We never had any issues that were not easily resolveable with our clients because of this. While working at a .dom as the CTO, for most of last year, I got to experience the flipside of that. They had contracted a consulting company in N.Y., the company I worked for was based in Florida at that time. This company had run up a bill of half a million dollars on us. Before I came to the company there was no one with any technology experience. As I scanned through what they were doing for this money, it became obvious that they were training people on our money. I also realized there may be a problem when we asked for a login screen, which was already there as part of the software we purchased, and I was told it would take a week. When I told them that I would code it myself in a couple of hours, there was a very long silence from our "partners." They never did, nor could they provide status reports for the work they were doing. When I finally questioned them and pushed it all the way to the top of their company, It was determined that we did not have to pay the 1/2 million.
With the firm I am with now, it seems everyone here understands morality and exercises it freely. We only do what is best for our clients and I am very happy to be part of this company.
The moral, you have to keep a close eye on your "partners." Occasionaly have their work audited by an internal person or another company that does IT/Code auditing. Ask for weekly status reports and information that reinforces technology decisions they recommend.
Don't fall asleep, that's when they get ya!
Edwin A. Locke and Jaana Woiceshyn answer this question in "Why Businessmen Should Be Honest: The Argument From Rational Egoism" from Why Businessmen Need Philosophy . They discuss the major codes of morality (cynical egoism, Christianity, and secular altruism), and conclude that Ayn Rand's theory of Rational Egoism is the only code which provides an acceptable answer.
1. Our firm goes in a project, armed with 10 project directors, 3 senior project directors, 5 project managers, 8 business analysts, 4 architects, and 2 programmers.
2. At a rate of many thousands of dollars an hour, the team begins to start gathering information from the customer.
3. This goes on for weeks or months. The customer has no sense that anything is happening, because precisely *not*a*whole*lot* is happening other than a lot of paper pushing and superficial analysis
4. Customer freaks out at the expenses, thinking that if the it's *that* expensive to even get the project rolling, the cost will be astronomical to actually do the implementation, so customer terminates the project.
5. Consulting firm goes away scott free with plenty of money in their pockets.
6. Consulting firm repeats step 1 through 5 with other customers and rarely gets any implementation done (which explains why there are 50 chiefs and only 2 indians).
In 2 years and a half of consulting, my total implementation time (including design), was 6 months.
-- fryday
It seems if you run an ethical small shop, you are most likely to go out of business. The unethical ones make the money by gouging the customer as much as they can and hope the customer doesn't notice it.
Microsoft products for example, require the most maintenance. Sell or request that the client use Microsoft products, and you will also win a "Maintenance" contract. Use something else like Linux and Apache, and expect to set up the server and never to be heard from again until it needs upgrading. Trust me, been there, done that, with a small company I founded, went out of business because the customers are happy running a stable product and don't need my company's services anymore.