I've been in Consulting for ~3 yrs and I love it. I moved to Big4 from industry (2 yoe at FAANG after graduation) mostly because I got bored there. Consulting keeps me thinking, exciting, and (what seems like ages ago now) travelling.

I haven't only had rainbows, I've experienced good and bad projects, but I still enjoy it all. But what frustrates me the most is projects that are grossly mis-staffed. And I feel like this is more common than it should be in consulting.

Partners, why do you...

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Partners, why do you constantly understaff projects or staff the wrong people/skillsets? It's so frustrating to be staffed on an uphill project where it's just not the right skillsets across the board. And if the right people were staffed, the project would actually be easily successful.

The lack of proper staffing on projects makes consulting more difficult than it needs to be. And it's not just a one-off scenario. What's the intention of this and why is this a persistent problem?

I love consulting and would love to make Partner, but I just want to understand what the difficulty is here, as a Partner, to staff projects with the proper people & skillsets (at least at the D/M level such tbsh they can guide the associates/consultants/seniors).

likesmart

It’s very simple - if they scope it out accurately, the cost of engagement for end client will go up, and we would not win it. Engagement are priced based on what client can afford to pay us, and how much competition is there to win the deal. Exploiting our junior resources is always easier approach to stay profitable, and also keep end customer happy.

Simple - if we staffed all projects optimally, we’d either be overpriced or less profitable.

likefunny

I’m sure we’d like to staff every project optimally. We just don’t always have the people available. It’s such a tough balance. Deciding when to pull people from projects, piss off their managers/clients. Or just leave them. More often than not we are pulling people because the staff themselves want a new experience. Just understand it’s not always as easy as it seems.

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Think about how big your firm is and how much variability there is internally in its org model.

Then think about how robust and comprehensive your skillset framework is, and how disciplined and accurate people are in updating their skills.

Finally add availability and work restrictions challenges along with personal preferences and client preferences to that.

likehelpful

OP, I feel your pain. My project is in the same boat. But that’s just the nature of this industry.

There’s a limited number of “ideal” resources for a specific project at a given time. SMs usually are the ones fighting for resources. Some have to settle on who’s available per the schedule, with “close enough” skill sets, and fits in the project team dynamic.

There are many layers to this job is unpredictable and sometimes frustrating. But those who can learn to adapt and navigate the complexity will come out on top. That’s why you and I enjoy it. That and the money 🙂

Not a partner but genuine question: haven’t you ever not been a “perfect fit” for a project, but still immensely enjoyed it and learnt a lot? I think consulting thrives a lot on adaptability - imagine how little skills growth we would all have if we were only staffed on projects aligned to our background

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You should be clearer about your objection. Is it that we shouldn’t lie about our capabilities and experience when selling work? If so, totally agree! I, for one, am extremely careful to not do this - and to be very transparent about what we are good at vs less good at. If you work at a place where it is common for leaders to be dishonest with your clients about capabilities during the selling process, don’t know what to tell you. Not every firm has that as part of the operating model.

If your objection is about sub-optimal staffing, that’s simply a part of life in the industry anywhere worth being. Lining up exactly the right experience and skill and time frame across all sold projects is impossible. It’s why we seek fast learners and adaptable people instead of hiring for a pure set of, say, technical skills. There’s always a distribution around quality of staffing fit relative to need. Sometimes I get lucky and get exactly the right team. Sometimes not so much. And I don’t know in advance when selling work what that fit will be because I’m not committing resources in advance of a sale most of the time since other partners are trying to sell work at the same time too. So I sell the work and figure out later how to manage with the team I can pull together.

likehelpful

Couldn’t agree more

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Because we have to to win. Or because scope was not understood. Or scope creep. It’s hard to get it right unless it’s been done before :(

Partners staff senior managers, senior managers staff projects

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If you can't staff optimally for skillset (which I understand since people aren't always available when needed and you gotta keep the bench low) then why not at least staff for bandwidth? Burning out folks is the main reason people leave.

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Fair question. But would you prefer partners didn’t try and sell as much as possible and then staff as best as possible? There’s only a certain number of people that are well fit to any problem. If they’re already staffed, do you pass on the work?

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Selfishly? Yes. I'd rather get dinged at year end for being on the bench due to a dry pipeline than for not doing well on a project because it was improperly scoped and staffed and I'm out of my league.

As an SC, I have expectations to perform at the SC level no matter the project. But if I'm doing a supply chain project for the first time, my value add is going to be severely hindered. I'm not saying this is an excuse to not dabble in new and interesting projects, but it should be recognized I won't shine nearly as much as I would on a project that is my bread and butter.

It's a lose-lose situation when the project doesn't pan out to have the proper people or deliverables at the end. Like I said, it'd be mitigated if there was a competent Manager or Director guiding the project, but when the problem is up there as well and no one knows what they're doing, we're just scrambling to CYA and deliver something the client wants to hear.

At the end of it all, the Partners are dumbfounded to what went south and reviews are not good. Again, I understand if 2 or 3 out of 10 projects are struggling to be properly scoped and staff, but if 2 projects out of 10 are being done right, that seems like a red flag to me.

likesmart

1. There is very rarely a case where demand and supply of skills perfectly align

2. Overworking staff is taken for granted in the industry . All of us who made partner also hated this situation when we were staff consultants . The reward for doing well is faster career progression

3. If you worry too much about how to deliver a case - you will not sell very much . So partners sell even if they fully know there won’t be enough available people with the right skills to deliver . If they don’t do that - they will have to let go of some staff which is not ideal either . Remember - the firm needs to make a profit somehow

4. Then there is the employee angle . Very often the staff consultants don’t want to do the same kind of work at different clients when it’s sold .

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