Helping Your Client Maintain Markup Quality

One thing that is particularly frustrating with caring about Web standards and accessibility is what often happens after your work is done and a site is handed over to the client.

Johansson, Roger. 456 Berea Street (2007). Articles>Web Design>Consulting>Standards

Ten Reasons Clients Don't Care About Accessibility

Working as an accessibility consultant in an IT company is a very frustrating job right now. Highly publicized lawsuits and deep-rooted accessibility myths leave us with a lot to explain when the final product does not really help visitors. Our clients simply don’t care about accessibility as much as we’d like them to, and there are several reasons for that.

Heilmann, Christian. Digital Web Magazine (2005). Articles>Consulting>Accessibility>Web Design

Technical Communication and Consulting: The Flat World Alignment Paradigm, or Why Technical Communication Consultants Have Nothing to Fear from Offshoring    

In support of the IEEE Professional Communication Society's 50th anniversary conference, this paper suggests ways in which the technical communication profession can ensure its sustainability throughout the next 50 years of business evolution. This paper seeks to present a compelling argument directed at conventionally-employed technical communicators that a paradigm shift towards consulting employment is in their best interest - and in the technical communication profession's best interest. Because of exposure to many and varied companies and methodologies, technical communication consultants tend to have more wide-ranging and current skills that they can offer to companies over their peers who work in conventional employment arrangements. For this argument, this paper will look at how technical communicator consultants can make significant contributions to business by comparing the attributes of technical communication consultants to the attributes of the untouchables defined and discussed in The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century, the maverick analysis of the globalization phenomenon by Thomas L. Friedman.

Davy, D. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication (2007). Careers>Consulting>Outsourcing>Offshoring

Five Reasons Why a Digital Agency Should Take Usability Seriously

Many digital agencies are now talking about usability and including it in their offering, but few are incorporating into their everyday process. Here are some reasons why agencies should think seriously about integrating usability and usability testing into their offering.

Experience Solutions (2009). Articles>Consulting>Usability>Testing

Draw the Line: When and How to Stop Giving Away Professional Advice

People are unabashed about asking for web advice and help related to blogs, social media, networking and other web work because they don’t regard it as a specialized service the way they do with medical and legal expertise. I’m not saying giving away freebies is always a definite no-no, but I do think that as web workers we need to start reinforcing the value of our work by drawing a line between friendly advice and working for free. Here’s how I’m trying to create that demarcation.

Etherington, Darrell. Web Worker Daily (2009). Careers>Consulting>Advice

Consulting By Business College Academics: Lessons for Business Communication Courses    

This article briefly reports on my very preliminary attempt to explore consulting by business academics. I began with a simple question: What lessons might BC instructors draw from the consulting practices of business academics? I interviewed three professors at the business college of a large Midwestern university who also consult on the side: Erin Dawson (a pseudonym), an associate professor of marketing; Thomas Chacko, a professor of management; and Sri Nilakanta, an associate professor of management information systems (MIS). Additionally, I leafed through the marketing plan Erin had written for her client, a local boat manufacturer. Below, I briefly discuss my main preliminary findings.

Dave, Anish M. Business Communication Quarterly (2009). Careers>Consulting>Industry and Academy>Ethnographies

Consulting On Negotiation: Teaching Business Students Basic Techniques    

My experience as a consultant has provided a wealth of information and ideas that I often share with my college students. Perhaps the most important skill I have honed has been the ability to negotiate deals and contracts. No other factor has had such a direct impact on the success of my consulting business. The art of negotiation is understood by few people or regularly utilized, and yet most people negotiate several times a day. Each time a person buys a product or service, an internal as well as external negotiation occurs. We barter professionally, personally, and psychologically with little or no thought of improving this much-needed skill.

Layng, Jacqueline M. Business Communication Quarterly (2009). Articles>Education>Consulting>Business Communication

Use of Uncertainty Reduction and Narrative Paradigm Theories in Management Consulting and Teaching: Lessons Learned    

Teaching business communication while performing professional business consulting is the perfect learning match. The bizarre but true stories from our consulting world provide excellent analogies for classroom learning, and feedback from students about the consulting experiences reaffirms the power of using stories for teaching. When discussing this article, we recognized that we used two distinct communication theories for consulting and then for relaying these experiences in teaching. First, we talked about the challenge of truly in-depth process consulting: determining with the client what they need, not simply what they want. This requires extensive uncertainty reduction theory--continuing to drill down until the true nature of the problem is revealed and further consulting can begin.

Barker, Randolph T. and Kim Gower. Business Communication Quarterly (2009). Articles>Education>Consulting>Business Communication

Getting to No

A bad client relationship is like a bad marriage without the benefits. To avoid such relationships, or to fix the one you're in, learn the five classic signs of trouble. Recognizing the never-ending contract revisionist, the giant project team, the vanishing boss and other warning signs can help you run successful, angst-free projects.

Hoy, Greg. List Apart, A (2009). Careers>Consulting>Collaboration

Freelance Contracts: Do’s And Don’ts

Drafting a contract that covers you, and doesn’t just enumerate information, is more than important: it is a must. Freelancers do not have the benefit of a legal department dedicated to protecting their interests with a watertight contract. Nevertheless, a freelancer’s contract must be comprehensive, concise and clear. It should outline the scope of the job, scheduling demands, the expectations of both parties and more.

Bowen, Robert. Smashing (2009). Careers>Consulting>Freelance>Contracts

How To Identify and Deal With Different Types Of Clients

In business, being able to read people and quickly get a sense of who you’re dealing with is an invaluable skill. It turns your encounter with a client into an opportunity to catch a glimpse of the upcoming project and how it will need to be handled. It is one of the building blocks of a professional relationship. In today’s digital age, the arena has shifted to the Web, and the online office space that most freelancers inhabit limits personal interaction. Though sussing out a client’s personality via online communication is difficult, it still remains an invaluable tool in your arsenal.

Bowen, Robert. Smashing (2009). Careers>Consulting>Correspondence>Collaboration

Can You Say That in English? Explaining UX Research to Clients

It's hard for clients to understand the true value of user experience research. As much as you'd like to tell your clients to go read The Elements of User Experience and call you back when they’re done, that won’t cut it in a professional services environment. David Sherwin creates a cheat sheet to help you pitch UX research using plain, client-friendly language that focuses on the business value of each exercise.

Sherwin, David. List Apart, A (2009). Articles>Consulting>User Experience>Research