Many consulting firms perform project reviews, which are also known as project audits. Some of those firms also sell professional services and manage projects. You may be more likely to get an objective project review if you select a consulting firm that specializes in reviewing projects. Such a firm will not have a hoard of managers or programmers waiting to take over your project. Nor will it be affiliated with any vendors. Therefore, it can be completely objective, delivering only the truth about your project's status and recommendations for action.

Remember the TV commercial where the client says to the two consultants after reading their recommendations, “This looks great. Go ahead and do it”? The two consultants look at each other, and then tell the client, “Uh, we don't do what we recommend. We just recommend it.” The message of this commercial seems to be that it is good to hire our firm because we not only recommend, but we also do for you what we recommend. Sometimes this may be exactly what a project manager wants--for instance, when no resources or inadequate resources are available to implement the recommendations. But, if adequate resources exist, either internally or externally with a third party implementation partner, the manager may only want the true project status--unfiltered by the desire to sell professional services.

Ask your trusted peers which consulting firms they can recommend. Be sure to ask any consulting firms you are considering for at least three references. Follow up with each reference, asking their satisfaction with: the way the firm's consultants collected and analyzed project information, the quality of the review report, and the quality of their findings and recommendations. Be sure to ask each reference if there is anything else you should know about the firm that you have not asked about.

Clarifying the Statement of Work

The seeds of a successful project review are sown during the up-front development of the statement of work (SOW). The SOW is not a contract, though it sometimes can be an attachment to a contract. The SOW is mutually worked out iteratively between the consultant and the client. A SOW can take many forms; however, it should include at a minimum:

• A statement of the client's concern (the reason for wanting a project review)
• A statement of what the client hopes to learn from the review
• A statement of what can happen as a result of the review
• A statement of specific areas of investigation to focus the review, such as executive sponsorship, business functionality, management capability, or technical capability
• A statement of the client's responsibilities prior, during , and post review
• A statement of the consultant's responsibilities prior, during , and post review
• A statement of any administrative and logistical support to be provided by the client
• A chronological summary of the consultant's tasks, including dates
• A statement of the consultant's estimated fees and terms
• A signature block for the client and the consultant.

If you choose well, you should be willing to follow your consultant's advice. To do otherwise is a waste of your money and the consultant's time. Effective consultants qualify their clients while the clients are qualifying them. Here is an example of what I mean by qualifying. My partner and I were called to review a large ERP project. As part of our being qualified, we were asked to meet with the board of directors, where we answered a lot of questions about our experience and skills. We knew that other consulting firms had been hired before us to review the same project. We also knew that their recommendations had not been implemented. We told the board of directors that if we were merely to be the next firm in the parade, we were not interested in taking the engagement. We qualified the client by letting them know up front that we expected them to implement our recommendations. We did take the engagement, and the client implemented more than 90 percent of our recommendations within six months after the review.

Follow Up after the Project Review

Most reputable consultants want to help clients solve their problems and identify opportunities. These consultants want to know that their consulting intervention has had the desired effects. When you hire a consultant to conduct a project review, make sure that you build into the engagement a few follow-up visits. This is a good way to protect your investment in the project review. Even with the best of intentions to carry out the consultant's recommendations, there can be many distractions over time. Having your consultant come back for follow-up visits can help keep your project focused on implementing the recommendations.