The world’s leading consultant on Data Warehousing, Greg Bound, was called by Tom Clark, the CEO of one to Fortune 50 companies, to come and talk to him about a problem he has. Greg is excited at the opportunity and goes to the meeting eagerly. Tom says that Steve Ward, his head of European operations, has a real problem with his business intelligence system and he would like Greg to go over and help Steve. Tom will pay for the complete project whatever the cost. "Just straighten him out!" Greg calls for a meeting and Steve eagerly agrees to meet. When Greg arrives at Steve’s office in Paris, he is greeted warmly. After lots of nice chit chat, Greg says why he is here. Steve just laughs and says "that is ridiculous." He thought Greg was coming over to learn how he was doing such a great job on business intelligence with his data warehouse. Steve says that confidentially Tom really needs some help because he is out of touch with the operations.
Does this sound familiar? We often get caught in the middle. People are often polite and go thru the motions but really are much to busy with their day to day job to spend time with some nerd from IT or as one fellow called me "a shining ass consultant from Toronto." They go thru the motions but have no intention of changing anything.
So what are the things we can do to avoid getting caught in the middle? If we get caught, how to recognize the symptoms? If we find ourselves in the middle, how can we help the client? What is in the best interest of the client?
