Pre-Project Checklist: Are You Ready for the Next Engagement?

Posted by Consultize

Thanks for visiting Consultize - your source for management consulting. If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to the RSS feed or sign up to receive new consulting articles via convenient email updates. Enjoy your visit.

Research Consultants roll on and off client projects all the time - it’s the nature of the business. Especially on larger projects, it is not uncommon to find the consulting team cycle through new junior and senior associates as roles are revised and retired. And with new associates comes the opportunity (and need) to inform and educate; not doing so hampers the transition and prevents resources from hitting the ground running.

Before being deployed on your next assignment, take the time to carry out some focused research. You will find this exercise to not only be educational but also a smart way to considerably reduce the dreaded ramp-up time. Here are a few suggested activities. What other items appear on your pre-project checklist?

Industry 101 - Familiarize yourself with the industry: With the use of management consultants now common in many industries, consultants often find themselves assigned to projects in verticals in which they have little or no background or prior experience. Some preliminary industry research will introduce you to terminology and help you glean key information that will be critical in putting the client organization into perspective. Information that you should focus on includes: industry size, level of maturity (established vs. new), key revenue and cost drivers, key market players (competition) - note a quick PEST and Five Forces analysis can help you structure this information. Hoovers maintains a comprehensive list of industry reviews.

Client 101 - Get to know your client: I have written about the importance of knowing your client before. Suffice it to say, it is one of the most important pieces of information you could gather prior to starting the project. While I discuss it in a little more detail here, the crux of it is that you should be familiar with basic client information such as revenue, profitability margin and names of key client executives and staff. A good source to look for public company information is Google Finance or, if a privately-owned company, the company’s own records which the client is normally more than happy to provide.

Read up on the sales material: This is the reason you’ve been assigned to work for the client in the first place. The objective at this stage is to gain an appreciation of the reason for the project, the proposed approach (if identified) and the expected benefits.A good starting point is the client Request for Proposal (RFP), if one exists, as this will describe the problem, issue or need as identified by the client. This is a great way to get the unadulterated client view of the situation. Next, you should look at any sales materials that were presented to the client in response to the RFP to understand what has been communicated to the client in terms of skill set, experience, and expectations. Additionally, if a Statement of Work has been signed, this will be useful as well to understand the scope of the project and expected deliverables.

Review existing project material: If the project is already underway, some material may already exist for work performed. While not all material will be relevant to your own role on the project, it will serve as a good primer on the effort to date. Pull together whatever information you can that helps with the integration process.