Getting Drunk in First Class

On many an engagement, you will find your typical, total dickhead partner or principal who hands off project management duties to one or more senior managers (and this is what should happen) but the dickhead partner or principal (or the senior manager) doesn’t do a good job of keeping open enough communication about status of the project and client relationship management throughout the project.

In these instances, your dickhead partner or principal manages by way of seagull management, an inefficient, albeit effective, form of management. Essentially, the partner is never there much and isn’t in the loop but when the partner occasionally ’swoops’ in for status meetings and whatnot or meets with the client, he or she learns of something that upsets them or that they don’t like but is working just fine with everyone involved. This, of course, incites the dickhead to proceed to envelope the entire project team in a sort of shit storm. This is where the popular consulting phrase, “Get your shit deflectors out,” comes from. Essentially, the dickhead partner or principal has ’swooped’ in, taken a shit, and flown off again, only to return the next time and crap once again. Rinse. Repeat. Henceforth, we have seagull management. Beautiful, isn’t it?