Completing the Consulting Assignment

Abstract

Most of this book on scientific consulting is actually about consulting, and not about science. The present chapter on performance of contract work is as close to describing applications of technical expertise as we will come in our examination of scientific consulting. The previous chapter brought us through the preliminaries—the dances that, if well done, lead to contracts. It is now time to look at how the consultant actually does the work for which he is paid. As with other descriptions, this one is best subdivided into phases, beginning with the proposal—already considered in Chapter Eight—which summarizes the approaches to be followed, and is essentially a work plan, to be augmented immediately after contract signing by an activities flow chart and a detailed time schedule.¹⁰