Anyone who has spent anytime dealing with their city government, as I have, (or any other government entity, for that matter), will appreciate the sardonic humor to be found at this website for HUH? Consultants. The scary part is, it pretty much sums up exactly what I have been thinking about consulting firms for some time. From the opening lines under the heading, "Strategies",
Our main consulting strategy is to convince clients that we do stuff they can't do themselves, and that we deserve lots of money for it. The best way to do this is to always look good, and always sound like we know something you don't. Because we do.
to this blatant ambiguity under "Clients",
Our marketing and consultant clients are numerous and prestigious. Far too numerous and prestigious to name, in fact. You'll just have to take our word on this.
this parody mirrors all too well the reality of consulting firms hired at the taxpayers' expense for the most mundane of public works projects. The sad part is that too few taxpayers are involved in any given situation to realize how widespread the unnecessary use of "consultants" really is, and the amount of tax dollars that are wasted annually by municipalities that have bought the consultants' schtick hook, line and sinker. Ethics seem to have taken a backseat to milking the cash cow that is the taxpaying public, both on the part of city officials and consulting firms.