Book Review: Secrets of Consulting

Secrets of Consulting is like Sun Tzu's The Art of War for consulting. Gerald Weinberg has organized the book into a rapid-fire succession of juicy tidbits of sage advice, packaging each in a quaint but often esoteric mnemonic, and reinforcing each nugget with a story. That's all good. The stories are relevant and they get the point across. However, he gives each anecdote a silly name (like "Prescott's Pickle Principle"), then uses that nomenclature when referring to them later on in the book. I found that annoying and confusing. Since I didn't memorize each goofy alias, I had to read the book with my pinky finger lodged in the glossary, so I could continuously flip back and forth to reference the pseudonyms. Thankfully, he lists them all out by name, alphabetically, right before the index at the back of the book.

It wasn't the "fix problem X with solution Y" book I had expected. It's much more of a "get to know yourself" and "be able to step outside yourself and observe your own actions without bias" sort of tome. The lessons learned from the book are basically methods for keeping an objective view on a situation, being able to see things from different angles, being cognizant of and compassionate to your client's personal and emotional investment in a project as well as your own, realizing when you're falling into ruts, discerning when you've become part of the problem rather than the solution, etc., ad infinitum. It wraps up with a few short and sweet chapters on pricing and trust.

In short, it's worth reading. You'll be a better consultant for having read it. You'll better deal with other consultants for having read it. I've heard there's a sequel, but I think my next endeavor is going to be the book Weinberg praises in his own writing: Flawless Consulting: A Guide to Getting Your Expertise Used.