Back when I made a great deal of my income as a consultant I learned that a majority of engagements with new clients were to rescue failed attempts at in-house solutions to problems. The staff were asked to solve some technical-business problem and usually gave it a really good try.
But, they were not experts in the areas needed to craft a solution. After it became clear things weren't going to work, they decided to seek outside help but in many cases not with solving the problem rather with implementing their "solution".
Often the solution wasn't viable, and they'd already made large capital expenditures exhausting the original budget. But, as an expert I could see that no amount of "making the solution work" would actually solve the problem. Many times I had to refuse work because in the end I would have be the one to blame for the failure of a doomed project.
I learned, very early on, when someone asked me about whether I could "make something work" I needed to ask, "why do you want to do that?"
For long term clients even if the initial engagement was a rescue, subsequent engagements were about problems instead of solutions.
The client is the expert in their problem, the consultant is the expert in solving the problem.
Always ask "why do you want to do that?" if you really want to help someone because they may very well have a very good reason but they also may be completely off the mark. In either case more information makes helping easier and the outcome better.
But, they were not experts in the areas needed to craft a solution. After it became clear things weren't going to work, they decided to seek outside help but in many cases not with solving the problem rather with implementing their "solution".
Often the solution wasn't viable, and they'd already made large capital expenditures exhausting the original budget. But, as an expert I could see that no amount of "making the solution work" would actually solve the problem. Many times I had to refuse work because in the end I would have be the one to blame for the failure of a doomed project.
I learned, very early on, when someone asked me about whether I could "make something work" I needed to ask, "why do you want to do that?"
For long term clients even if the initial engagement was a rescue, subsequent engagements were about problems instead of solutions.
The client is the expert in their problem, the consultant is the expert in solving the problem.
Always ask "why do you want to do that?" if you really want to help someone because they may very well have a very good reason but they also may be completely off the mark. In either case more information makes helping easier and the outcome better.