Rules about Getting into Cabs

Lessons learned from a cab ride home from the airport last night:

1. Always do a "lean-in sniff test" of the cab before just jumping in, to see if said cab smells like pee. If it does, once you're in and the door is shut, you're screwed. You'll have pee-smell emanating from your body for the rest of the day, no matter how much travel-size Marriott lotion you might have in your bag to try to cover the odor. It doesn't work. Besides - it should not come as a news flash that the marriott hands out crap hand lotion. there should be a label on it that says "won't mask smell of pee."

2. Be wary of cab drivers that have not one, but two bluetooth devices - one in each ear. View that as problematic. One, you clearly have an ADD cab driver. Your chances of hitting someone just increased exponentially, as did the chance that you'll get a concussion hitting your head against the window if he turns suddenly to "change ears." Two, you're going to get a migraine from listening to only one side of two different conversation - likely conversations not being held in English. Badness all around.

GO FORTH AND LEVERAGE THESE LEARNINGS.

Intellectual Capital (IC) Theivery

Mission: Create a usable Change Request process and corresponding Change Request form

Complicating Factors:

• Clients aren't interesting in using a formal Change Request process and mock Change Request form development openly and loudly
• Someone (another consultant) has already designed a very crappy Change Request form that is flagrantly masquerading as "the norm"

Process: Design a Change Request process flow that makes sense, vet it via use cases to see if it really makes sense, then figure out what elements will be needed on the new Change Reequest form

Interesting Discovery: While designing said form, googled "Change Request form" only to discover existing crappy Change Request form as top search result even using the same icky maroon color scheme! Flagrant theivery of IC from Google. Damn consultants...There should be rules. Or should there? :)

It Starts.

Here's the deal:

If you're a consultant, you're Type A and certifiably insane.

Join the club.

We like insanity, or we wouldn't be in this business.

The insane are welcome here. Welcome with open arms.

To put this is a format we are all familiar with, let's use bullet points:

On this blog, we want to hear:

• your crazy client experiences
  
• any new additions to the "consultantese" language
  
• business school nightmares


• "synergies" you've successfully "leveraged"
  
• which airlines suck, and which ones are good


• which airports to avoid, and which ones have decent bars/restaurants/lounges
  
• firms: the good, the bad, the insane


• good sites to pull "IC" from


• anything else you can come up with

The only rule is, just so none of us get a good ass-kicking from the likes of Cancer-man or some Partner/MD, come up with a good (and preferably entertaining) alias if you're going to comment or post. Okay? That's about it.

Chop Chop, people.

Go forth and leverage synergies.