Do you need to hire a consultant to fix your team?

In business—and in life—you get back what you put into it, but do you really need to hire expensive consultants—or pay for re-certifications—if you don't need them?

Most everything that works is documented in a book somewhere—or it can be learned from experience. Even things that are better learned in a classroom setting will not require refresher courses unless (1) processes and strategies improve, or (2) you don't practice what you've been taught.

This all crossed my mind when I was prompted by the Scrum Alliance to re-certify—just pay them another hundred bucks per certification—as a Scrum Master and as a Scrum Practitioner. The re-certification provides no new training as Scrum processes and strategies have not changed—although Ken's new book did enhance existing processes with some trial by fire examples.

I live Scrum everyday, so I have more Scrum experience than most Scrum trainers, so tell me again why I should send more money to the Scrum Alliance?

Consultants are the same. If you listen to them long enough, you'll break things and believe the consultant predicted the break—the same day you paid him to tell you how to repair it.

The following story has been told in various incarnations for more than 40 years, but it is still applicable today...

Once upon a time there was a man who ran a hot dog stand. This man ran one of the finest hot dog stands in the whole city and—strangely for a hot dog stand—he even used real meat in his sausages.

People came from miles around to get tasty hot dogs that were freely covered in onions and sauces. In fact, the man was so successful that he could afford to send his son to Harvard. His son even went on to finish an MBA.

After graduation the son came back to work with his dad with some solid business advice. 

“Dad, based on the current economic statistics, it's obvious that we’re heading for a recession. You’ve got to stop using all that sauce, and dishing out onions as if they were free.”

The father was torn. He’d always been generous to his customers, but his very bright boy didn’t get all that education for nothing. So, reluctantly, the hotdog vendor cut back on the sauces and the onions.

His son even convinced him to buying a cheaper brand of hot dog with a more traditional sawdust ratio.

It was all just in time.

In the end, his son proved right—his business took a real dive.

Buy a book.

Use your common sense.

If you must hire a consultant or seek training of any sort, learn from the training, and then expand what you've learned by practicing. Otherwise, you continue to repurchase what you previously bought—sort of like insurance.

Don't get me started on that one.