Successful consultation: it’s a process – and models help
Using a real-life example as illustration, the article explains how models help avoid errors and save costs in projects and planning processes.
Status-quo presentations, heated discussions, and executives who are very unhappy because multiple briefings failed to present them with a clear picture: highly common occurrences in complex consultation processes around the globe. Though huge amount of time and money have been invested in consultation projects over the past years, their success seems to be mostly accidental. Why is that?
Consultation must be conceived as a journey. That is the only way it can work. The sensible and promising approach to complex problems doesn’t consist in tackling them in one single strike to achieve static results. On the contrary: it is aware of and leverages the iterative character of processes. Software developers have been using this approach for years, successfully. It is known as agile methodology and based on four core principles:
- Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
- Working software over comprehensive documentation
- Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
- Responding to change over following a play
Models provide additional and highly valuable support. Have you ever asked yourself why every skyscraper, every car and airplane, in short: every complex project is first created as a digital model? Sure, you’ll say, it’s because of their complexity. So why not create models for new planning environments and process implementations? Just because there is no out-of-the-box system available?
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This is a management summary of an article first published in the magazine of Digital Tempus Germany. You can read the full article here in German, or contact me if you wish to have more information about the topic.