Consulting in a Commenting World

by Confab Comm

The Wall Street Journal is a good case study on the modern use and implementation of free range commenting. Alongside every story published online the Journal offers registered users the opportunity to post comments in regard to the articles. Often times the posted comments include insane ramblings, grouchy quips, or personal attacks at other comment writers . What is interesting about the comments, and relevant to consultants, is their symbolism towards the proper management of a project.

As consultants on projects it is often found that scope creep and ancillary problems will find their way into projects. Rather than simply being asked to address the original problem the project will metamorphose into uncharted realms. The cost of this change generally impacts consultants at the bottom line by increasing hours spent without greatly increasing billable hours. Just as the comments on the Journal stories drift away from the main topic consultants can find clients drifting away from the main problem.

The scope creep can usually be found early on in projects during status meetings or within email chains. Rather than being asked to address issues relevant to the project consultants will start to receive questions or “suggestions” that move the scope towards ancillary issues. With easy access to information via the internet client employees can become quasi experts who begin to challenge methodologies or consultant findings. In these cases the project can change into an ugly battle of who knows more than whom.

To avoid the pitfalls of a comment based client relationship consultants can utilize some of the methods employed by the WSJ online:

Require registration and subscriptions: Every user who posts a comment must first be a paying subscriber who is then identified by their full subscriber name. The removal of anonymity helps lessen the hostility by breaking down walls. As a consultant facing attack during a project it can be beneficial to employ tactics that break down walls and remove any anonymity.

Moderate: By allowing other users to self moderate hostile comment posters, online news websites can minimize internal resources devoted to monitoring chatter. Consultants can use a point person within client relationships to filter all communications. This gate-keeper then become the consultants singular access point helping to reduce burdens on their own resources. As issues come up consultants then have one person to address the issues with.

Track: Every comment is trackable back to the original poster, forever. By keeping a log of the postings made by users the WSJ can use the history to punish or ban repeatedly hostile users. Consultants, obviously, can not ban client employees but they can keep a log of any hostile remarks to address with the gatekeeper above.

In the end consultants not only play a practical business role within their projects but they also play a practical people manager role too. Effectively managing the “comments” with a consulting project can help to improve the end results.

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