...and a river runs through it...

the diva has an awesome blog post right now about a good pal of ours...

known as "lady firewall" by regulars to the funcave...

teaching folks "how to fish."

now, your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy would like to go on record as saying...

i don't see a single "cold-hearted business person" in that story, at all.

and here's why...

the consultant recognized that he needed expertise that was beyond the current capabilities of his staff.

so rather than dink around with it, racking up billable time and then charging that client for the privilege of his folks 'learning' on their production system...

he contracted with an expert.

to me, that's the only way to properly service your clients.

and from amy's perspective...

rather than being a secretive, double-naught spy about what she was doing, hoarding her knowledge, all that...

her willingness to train those folks in what she was doing, so that they become more proficient using isa means that...

not only will isa prolly be used more often, and properly, by them...

who do you think that consultant is gonna have on speed-dial when his folks run into another situation involving isa that is above their level?

that's right.

amy!

now yours truly has always, without exception, let every single one of his clients know that, at their request, he will train anyone on anything about their network or systems.

i have never lost a client from that.

not ever.

in fact, what normally happens...

as the staff gets more proficient, and more comfortable with their systems...

they end up recognizing the value of what we do for them even more.

plus, they are more open to discussions about new projects & upgrades when the time comes...

since they know what's going on.

if you are taking proper care of your clients...

which you should be doing anyway...

there is virtually no downside to this approach.

as for amy's fishing lesson...

there's only thing i would do for that client if i were that consultant.

if the work is billed as chargeable time...

get an estimate of how long it would take for someone proficient to setup the configuration without an audience...

because we all know that can add a decent amount of extra time...

and charge the client that amount, rather than the full amount of time the session prolly took.

if the work's being charged as a flat rate, then cut them a 25% break.

okay, maybe that's just me...

but doing stuff like that helps me sleep better at night.