Roles
Business Analyst
As a new consultant, your role will mirror most closely to that of the business analyst. The business analyst will play a large variety of roles on the project and really is considered the Jack of all trades. Their job is to understand and analyze the different functions of the business. They will be responsible for conducting all meetings and interviews to understand and document the knowledge of the business processes and their intersection with strategy and technology. It is not rare to find the business analyst facilitating the project manager with his day to day tasks, or assisting with basic technical development, testing and training. Be prepared to flex your muscles in versatility.
Technical Analyst
The technical analyst’s role is a lot more focused on the technology side than his or her business counterpart, although there is a large overlap between the two roles. The technical analyst is responsible for helping to document technical requirements, designing and developing systems and seeing them through to deployment and support. Team members in this role usually have some form of background in development languages or design, but do not let that shy you away from the role if you have not had any experience in the past. From an entry-level, there are many paths that will allow you to move into the technical analyst role over time if this is of interest to you.
Quality Assurance
The quality assurance team is responsible for testing all deliverables and putting all requirements through the ringer to be sure that the end product is working as originally designed and intended. During the requirements phase, the QA team will usually design and create test scripts which meticulously outline the scenarios and steps required for each requirement to be considered a pass or fail.
The actual testing of the requirements, with the help of the quality assurance team, usually occurs during the project phase called UAT or User Acceptance Testing. In this phase, the users work with quality assurance and go through the test scripts previously created. If all scenarios come to a pass, the phase is considered complete and usually kicks off the move of all code and deliverables to production.
Sales
The sales team member’s primary role is to keep the work funnel full. They are responsible for finding new projects and prospective clients.
Good salespeople will engage their consultants, business and technical analyst to help them sell projects. Being able to speak to the potential client’s business analyst, technical resources, managers and executives will require credibility and they will appreciate the help from non-salespeople to come in and talk the talk. Forging good relationships with the sales team is always valuable as they can help open up doors and progress you through your career outside of client work. A very visible KPI that you will be measured against as you move higher in your firm will be how much work you sold and how much revenue you have generated. Getting this experience in early, even before you are measured against it, will be a valuable lesson.
The Partner
The partner at your firm is usually the highest-ranking role one can achieve. Once someone receives partnership, they usually become a co-owner at the firm. Depending on the size and the partnership program, this can be a very small or a very large percent of ownership stake. This allows the partner to share in company profits and are incentivized to help the company grow. From time to time, the partner will make an appearance at your client’s office to shake hands and meet the team. Their role at this level is dependent on making and keeping relationships. The more work they can sell and oversee, the better the firm does, which is better for everyone in the firm’s food chain. As a younger consultant, do not be scared or shy to forge a relationship with a partner. They are great allies to have and can help you grow in your career. They can provide guidance and get you promoted. They are always looking for great consultants to staff when they sell a new project as their reputation and salary may be on the line. You will want to be on their short list of people that are cherry-picked when they sell a new project. Only a very few consultants will survive the years and work at a single firm to become a partner. It can be easier to achieve by gathering experience at multiple firms and climbing the consulting ladder over many hard-working years.
Project Manager
The project manager’s role on the project is written in his/her title. They oversee the execution of a project and making sure the project is successful. Their role is to manage the day to day tasks and ensure the project is completed on time and on budget. They will often start the day making sure the team is working on the right items and facilitating meetings that may need to take place. They will track weekly burn rate and spend vs. the agreed upon time and budget. When tasks or requirements change (and they will), the project manager is also responsible for helping the client set new priorities, timelines and expectations. Usually, there is no such thing as over-communicating or documenting when playing the project manager role.
A good project manager is also responsible for the health and happiness of the project teams. They will shield you from client scope changes, interruptions and make sure you have a clear path in front of you to do the work.
If the role of project manager is something that interests you, see if you can help them with some of their day to day tasks which they should be happy to share. It will alleviate some of their work as well as give you valuable experience that you will be able to use later on.
Project Sponsor/Stakeholders
The project sponsor is the representative on the client side who owns the project, deliverable or initiative. They are the ones justifying the cost to the business against the value of the project. They are the ones that pushed the project through budgeting and got it signed and started. Their butts are on the line to be sure the project is completed.
The project sponsor may not be involved in the day to day tasks of the project, but as a consultant on a project, you will be required to provide periodic updates and status reports to the sponsor on progress, budget, changes and anything of importance worth mentioning. Usually, your project manager will be responsible for presenting this content, but it is not unusual to find your director or even the partner representing your firm to attend these meetings.
Are you interested in starting a career in consulting? Be sure to read the full book Jack of all Trades Master of Some; An Introduction to Consulting available on Amazon.