RE: Programmers VS Consultants

" Consultancy is the last refuge of a scoundrel " - Oscar Wilde almost.

All the relevent points seem to have been made but surely the ultimate
responsibilty for a consultant rests with whoever hired him ? You wouldn't
walk into a shop and say  " give me some stuff - whatever you think, give it
to me whenever suits and let me know how much it will cost whenever you
decide ". It appears we've all seen examples of being taken for a ride but
in the vast majority of cases I've seen its not the consultants I'd shoot,
its the clown who 
hired them and then didn't manage them properly.








-----Original Message-----
From: Roger Boucher [mailto:RBoucher@stanpac.com]
Sent: 22 November 1999 17:57
To: 'MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com'
Subject: RE: Programmers VS Consultants


I hate to say this, and I don't want to generalize, but my time spent in a
very large MIS shop led me to the conclusion that if you want something done
right, you do it with in-house programming staff.  If you want to slap it in
and not care what kind of mess is left behind, go ahead and use consultants.
If you need technical expertise you don't currently have in-house, hire a
consultant as a technical resource and train an in-house person to maintain
and support the application (and preferably develop it, too!).  The in-house
staff needs to live with the results, but consultants often don't.  Success
is viewed as did they get it in and does it work, end of review.  And
remember... EVERYTHING needs maintenance... this is not a put it in and
forget it kind of business we are in (unless of course you are on an AS/400
<g>).

With all that said I know there are certainly very good consultants out
there who care very much about the quality of their work and what they leave
behind.  There must be, because when I go out on my own some day I know that
I won't be the ONLY one out there who feels that way!!  It's just that I
haven't run across very many... yet.

But this brings me to a real pet peeve of mine:  RANT(*ON)
The people who budget for hiring need to learn that MIS is where it's at.
This is not a fad we are dealing with here, it is the future.  Stop trying
to avoid head count and start trying to build a good solid staff of MIS
personnel to allow you to grow without quite so much pain.  And you KNOW the
pain I'm talking about!  My experience, again, tells me that trying to
minimize the headcount of an MIS department is the worst way to go about
getting good results.  In the long run you will only double the work for an
already beleaguered staff.

The bottom line is nobody cares more than the people who have to live with
it.

RANT(*OFF)

Running for cover because I know there must be tons of consultants on this
list,

Roger Boucher
Standard Pacific Corp.
rboucher@stanpac.com
714-668-4326


-----Original Message-----
From: JGracetri@aol.com [mailto:JGracetri@aol.com]
Sent: Sunday, November 21, 1999 6:59 AM
To: MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
Subject: Re: Programmers VS Consultants


HOW DOES A CONSULTANT MAKE MONEY? ANSWER. BILLING YOU FOR HOURS WORKED.

*NOTE. UNLESS YOU HAVE SOMEONE TO OVERSEE THE CONSULTANT. YOU WILL GET A 
SHORT TERM SOLUTION(I.E. A PRGRAM OR SYSTEM THAT WILL REQUIRE THE CONSULTANT

AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, SO THE PROGRAM OR SYTEM IS DESIGNED TO BE OUTDATED FROM

DAY OF IMPLEMENTATION).

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