OMS Consulting Partners, LLC

(Part of the "Adventures in Consulting" series, please see previous posts for more info). So you think you want to be a freelancer...? Don't get me wrong -- there are some great advantages of being a self-employed consultant. I've been doing it for more than 15 years now, so I can assure you of that. However, besides the more obvious risks like not having an assured paycheck, having to pay your own health insurance, losing 15% to employee matching, etc., here's another risk you might not have thought about... What about if you want to eventually return to full-time work? You might end up with (as they said in the movie 'Office Space') a case of the "Muundays" Take a long and hard look at this issue before making the jump to freelancing. Once you make that jump, then a few years later go and talk to a company about returning to full time work, expect to answer multiple questions about why in the world you'd want to come back to the full-tim...

The Project Management Institute suggests 12 ways to earn PDU's... http://www.pmi.org/Pages/Ten_Ways_to_Earn_PDUs.aspx Their suggestions are pretty general and generic. Submit a comment to this blog and let me know how YOU like to earn your PDU's, and then I'll take the results and create a new reference on OMS' Project Management Resources page. Until next time...

If your a freelancer, chances are you'll have to work on a 'time and materials' basis on occasion. For me, that is my preferred method, because it gives me some assurance that my client won't take a fix-bid quote and 'scope creep' me into the poor house. Of course, if you can give your client a clear set of requirements and some sort of a 'cap' (not to exceed hours) then everyone has a stake in the game and it's fair for everyone. Some of the work I do requires me to be on-site. Sometimes that's just because the customer wants to see what they're paying for, but also because co-location can really help communication and project progress. If the customer is willing to pay my hourly rate + travel, then I just invoice them for actual travel costs, and they reimburse me. (Don't forget to add the per diem cost for ' meals and incidental expenses ' from the IRS.) But a little more tricky issue is what to do when the customer wants to...

Thanks to friend of the blog, Constantine Kortesis, for this contribution. It sure made me think... The following excerpt is from http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Med/Med.html "Despite its official founding in August, the Manhattan Project really began on September 17, 1942 when Col. Leslie Richard Groves was notified at 10:30 a.m. by Gen. Brehon Somervell that his assignment overseas had been cancelled. Groves, an experienced manager who had just overseen the collosal construction of the Pentagon, seized immediate and decisive control. In just two days he resolved issues that had dragged on for months under Compton. On September 18 Groves ordered the purchase of 1250 tons of high quality Belgian Congo uranium ore stored on Staten Island, and the next day purchased 52000 acres of land to be the future site of Oak Ridge. Groves was promoted to Brigadier General on September 23. By September 26 Groves had secured access to the highest emergency procurement priority then in exi...

At the heart of every large project is a small project trying to get out.

There's an old saying. "Never discuss politics, sex or religion in polite company." On the other hand, we all agree on many things. The earth is round (well, slightly spherical, actually), the sun rises in the east and sets in the west (actually the earth revolves around the sun), and the sky is blue (it really only appears blue to us). Well... you get the idea. Many aspects of project management do not seem to fit into the 'earth is round' category. What is the evidence? Here's just a few casual observations: 1. A PM on a popular professional networking site recently asked the question, " Does anyone really know what project management actually is? " Simple question, right? Nope! This has been the most popular 'discussion' (read: debate) on that networking site since it was launched about a month ago. This discussion/debate has more than 3x the comments then the #2 debate. And to add to the point, the #2 discussion is "There ...

"Right answers to wrong questions are just as wrong as wrong answers to right questions."

Entitlement. Back in the 80's, when I went to college, I had to work nights so I could afford to go to school during the day. Lots of 60+ hour weeks working swing shift at a trucking company + trying to handle a full load of Economics and Business Administration work was a huge challenge. I'm glad that young people can muster up that kind of energy, because I don't think I could do it now that I'm in my 40's. Early on in my college life, there was a woman in one of my classes who was doing basically the same thing I was; working nights to pay for college during the day. We commiserated because we were the two people constantly trying not to fall asleep in class -- not because we'd been out partying all night -- but because of working late. http://www.amanet.org/training/books/9780814478868.aspx I ran into that same woman as a junior or senior, and I still looked like the cat dragged something in. But, to my surprise, she looked well rested, groomed and tann...

Just today, the Gallup ® poll posted an article with this title: "Self Employed Workers Clock the Most Hours Each Week" http://www.gallup.com/poll/122510/Self-Employed-Workers-Clock-Hours-Week.aspx They asked, "In a typical week, how many hours do you work?" less than 35 hours/week 35-44 hours/week more than 44 hours/week And they grouped the answers based on what kind of job you have: Self-employed Private Business/Company Government Employee Non-Profit Q: Who puts in the most overtime? A: Self-employed people About half (49%) of 'self-employed' people work more than 44 hours/week More than a third (38%) Private Business & Government workers work more than 44 hours each week Less than a third (30%) of Non-Profit workers regularly work more than 44 hours/week Very interesting article, especially if you're thinking about making a change thinking that being self-employed will be 'easier' than working at a standard 'full time' job. I...

A friend from church recommended this book to me. I thought, "I've been doing this for 15 years, why do I need to read someone else's impressions of what it's like to be a consultant?". But my friend is a MIT grad, and a pretty good guy, so I ordered a copy on the internet . After just a few pages, I kind of got the feeling I was back in my childhood, sitting on the sofa next to my grandpa and he was telling me some great stories. Only thing is, I'm a grown up now, and this guy was telling me interesting, entertaining stories about how to be a better consultant. (I don't recall ever having consulting conversations with my grandfather.) This guy has not only 'been there and done that' in the consulting world, but he has a great approach to business and his stories are easy to remember and pretty humorous. Here's just a couple of the names: "The Law of Raspberry Jam", "The Lone Ranger Fantasy", "The Potato Chip ...

"The less involved you are, the easier the project seems." Or, if you're charging excessivly high billable hourly rates, then say it with a little more sophistication: "Perceived complexity is inversely proportional to involvement"

Thanks to John Sobieski, PMP, long time friend and fellow project manager for these resources (and good quote, too!) http://www.project-training-uk.freeserve.co.uk/index.htm http://www.cvr-it.com/PM_Templates/ http://www.allpm.com/ http://www2.iil.com/iilwebinars.net/ http://www.anthonyyeong.com/pm.htm "And it ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new." Nicolo Machiavelli c.1505

If you haven't seen this before, click on the picture to enlarge -- you're in for a good laugh (or cry). http://www.projectcartoon.com/

One of the great things about being a consultant is that you are constantly learning new things, especially if you're a technology consultant. If you like to read like I do, then ever better. There are A LOT of business books out there, and I've read a ton of them. Probably the most impactful business book I've ever read is " Principle Centered Leadership " by Steven Covey. He's the same guy that wrote the very popular " Seven Habits of Highly Effective People " (also very good). There are a few key concepts that really changed the way I do business, and caused a remarkable growth and satisfaction in how I ran my consulting practice: 1. The abundance mentality : You don't have to fight over every scrap with everyone, there is enough to go around and if you focus on finding those opportunities and give great service, there will always be enough. 2. Building Trust is Key : The key to running a successful business is building trust. And tr...

This is my first post, not only on this blog page, but on any blog page ever, so let me give you a quick introduction and overview. I've been an independent consultant and owner of OMS Consulting Partners, LLC for over 15 years (although the name has changed once or twice). We provide technology consulting services for the Retail, Telecom and Healthcare industries. Mostly we work with ERP systems (the systems that do most of the tracking of the business) that run on databases like Oracle, etc. We also teach a lot of people (over 6,500 at last count) how to use all this stuff, from MS Word to Visual Basic for Applications to PL/SQL, etc. I've worked for lots of companies in lots of places including Australia, Canada and at last count, over 15 states in the US. Some of the companies you've probably heard of like Nextel/Sprint, Pier1 and La-Z-Boy, and others only if you happen to live in that area or be in that industry like Mercer Healthcare, Rotman's, Bedding compani...