What Professionals Do

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...which describes the essential ingredients to what serves as not only differentiators in your workforce, but the "difference makers". I believe the few people that get the lion's share of work done exhibit these behaviors. Being a professional involves a code of conduct. While consultants (Blood Type of a Consultant) and contractors (Blood Type of a Contractor) are defined in the referenced posts terms of what it means to carry their associated profession's badge, Seth does a good job of providing attributes of "being professional"

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How Healthy is Your IT Ecosystem?

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As we have all learned, in nature a healthy ecosystem benefits all involved. When any part of the ecosystem is in ill health, in time all other aspects of the ecosystem will suffer. An IT organization operates in a similar manner. When all aspects of the IT ecosystem operate in harmony it operates much more effectively and efficiently.

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Letting Go

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From the consultant or contractor perspective, letting go is a very hard thing to do. The process of performing the type of work which consultants and contractors do is intellectually and surprisingly emotionally engaging. Comparisons can easily be drawn between many consulting and contracting engagements and raising children. There is a great deal of the consultant's soul in the project.

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Whom Do I Hire, Consultant or Contractor?

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As an executive, you find yourself in unfamiliar waters. You have a groundswell of demand for collaborative and Web 2.0 technologies and many are currently used within your organization. While you have concerns over reliability, security, availability, on-going support, and a variety of other topics, you realize the value of these technologies and know that the promise they show will be of tremendous value. Given your extensive knowledge and relationships within the company, you know that of the 360 degrees on the compass in which you can direct your company, you have narrowed the down a possible directional choices to "generally northwest".

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Blood Type of a Contractor

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True contractors have a specific blood type. It is a different blood type from that of a consultant, but a blood type none the less. True contractors also are distinguished from people who work on a contract while between full-time employees (contractor by convenience). I differentiate contractors from consultants by a simple rule of thumb. An organization will hire a consultant to advise them on a course of action. An organization will hire a contractor (or many) as a source of external labor to execute against a pre-defined plan. In the IT arena roles of project manager and programmer are frequently filled by contractors.

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