Why it isn't consulting
Off-the-shelf methodologies and boxes that won't fit how you actually work — and why my KPI is 'better on Monday', not 'report delivered'.
One of the priciest warning signs in a first meeting with implementers is the line: 'We've done thousands of these projects — everyone's the same.'
It sounds like experience. What it usually means is that they are not planning to understand your setup. They already have a methodology or a product, and your job is to squeeze into their mould. The business logic that grew out of your company's history — or out of what you're genuinely good at — does not fit that mould. Someone will have to straighten it out, and you pay twice: first for the rollout, then because the straightened-out company runs worse than it used to, or your people simply do not buy in.
It tends to play out in two familiar shapes.
The big consultancy
A month of interviews, an audit, strategy on slides. Then a separate invoice for training, another for retainer-style support by the hour. When something does not land — 'we gave you the methodology; you're applying it wrong.' At the end you have a polished deck, a team workshop, and the process map in three versions. Operations carry on much as they did.
The SaaS implementer
They arrive with a universal product and promise it will cover everything. They install it. The subscription ticks every month. Within a month you discover the box does not cover your specific business logic — that is 'customisation', and another invoice. Within a year you are so locked into the platform that leaving costs more than staying. Tailoring it properly is either impossible or ruinous. Getting your data out into something else is a project of its own.
In both cases the odd thing is the same: you pay a lot, you get a lot of activity, and the bottlenecks inside the business do not shrink. Sometimes they grow — another layer on top of the old mess.
The root cause, to my mind, is simple. For classic consulting and for the SaaS vendor, the deliverable is a signed-off report or a system switched on. For you, the deliverable is that Monday actually feels better. Those are different KPIs. While they stay different, you will get plenty of slides and not enough change.
I work differently — there is a separate piece on that. In short: one person who does the thinking and builds the solution themselves, without endless decks, without a subscription, and without keeping you on the hook.
If that sounds closer to what you need, get in touch from the contact page.