- How To Succeed as an Independent Consultant by Herman Holtz, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1983.
- The Consultant’s Guide to Proposal Writing, Second Edition by Herman Holtz, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1990.
- How to Start and Run a Successful Consulting Business by Gregory Kishel and Patricia Kishel, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1996.
- Consulting for Dummies by Bob Nelson and Peter Economy, IDG Books Worldwide, Inc., 1997.
- The Consultant’s Handbook by Stephan Schiffman, Adams Media Corporation, 1988.
- Shenson on Consulting by Howard L. Shenson, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1994, 1990.
- How to be a Successful Computer Consultant, Third Edition by Alan R. Simon, Mc-Graw-Hill, Inc., 1994.
- The Secrets of Consulting by Gerald M. Weinberg, Dorset House Publishing, 1985.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Consultant References
Consultant Success Factors
1. Technical skills
2. Interpersonal skills
3. Business skills
Possessing technical skills can be a great first step into the world of IT consulting. In the area of technical skills, a consultant should have a familiarity of computing technology. This may include project and time management principles, Internet and e-commerce strategies, hardware and software technology, systems analysis and design strategies, documentation, and a variety of quantitative methods including statistics and operations research.
But, even possessing the best technical skills in the world are not sufficient to ensure that you can become a successful consultant. Success as a consultant requires more than knowing how to configure and operate accounting software, optimizing a database application for improved performance, or using structured coding techniques. If technical prowess were all that was needed, every technical person in the world would be eligible to become a consultant. This, as you may have guessed, is not the case. Consulting involves being able to package your technical abilities with a set of skills that is often not so easy to teach. A consultant should have a grasp of a variety of interpersonal skills including being assertive, a good listener (or taking the time to hear what the client has to say), a good communicator, a professional attitude, and being a team player.