A Day in the Life of a Consultant

What does a typical day in the life of an Information Technology Consultant look like? Well, it usually starts early, typically 5:00 a.m., with time for personal reflection and goal setting. Then there's family time, getting the kids off to school by 7:20 a.m. Then it's preparation time for various meetings. Daily meetings with customers are a regular part of the job, advancing various projects to their next logical step. Often times, the customer has a decision on their plate. Once that decision is made, the project can hit another stride of progress. Meetings can be varied in their location and style:

• Telephone Conference Call
• On site at the customer location
• Live on the web
• At a third party location

The agenda for the meeting is usually determined in advance, but every so often a curve ball comes along. A crisis develops, and the consultant is asked to address it. This may throw all of the carefully laid plans out the window, at least for a time. The crisis has to be resolved, and then things can get back to normal.

After the morning meetings, there is time for a quick bite of lunch. Sometimes this is with a customer, which becomes yet another meeting. Often times lunch is time to reflect on the changes that the morning meetings have produced. Will the schedule slip? What about scope creep? Has the job gotten more expensive? What will be the impact of that change on the cost/benefit analysis? All of these questions come up from time to time.

Afternoons are usually spent working individually on various tasks. This may mean writing new documents. It may involve answering eMails. It may involve writing program code. Whatever the task, the job gets done during these afternoon sessions.

Then there's time with the family. Usually, this occurs before, during, and after dinner. It may mean playing games with the kids. It may mean a dinner out. It sometimes involves an evening activity. Family time is important, and there has to be time for it each day.

After the kids go to bed, there is usually more time for work tasks. This typically means getting prepared for the meetings the next day. It may also involve searching the Internet for answers to various questions. The Internet has a wealth of information available. Unfortunately, it has yet to get to the point where the answers are easily found. Sometimes a search can run through a hundred web sites before the answer shows up. Sometimes the perfect document is no longer available - i.e. it has been moved without a forwarding reference. Sometimes useful information has been locked away, available only by subscription. The question then becomes whether a yearly subscription to that journal is worth getting one answer for. The web is fast becoming not-free.

After a busy day filled with activity, there is time for rest. Usually, this means winding down by catching a bit of news or a show on TV. Then, it's off to bed. For 5:00 a.m. comes again very soon thereafter.

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