Resolving SSIS Error code 0×80004005

I’ve been geeking out with SSIS for the last week or so and posted a blog over at DynamicsCare.com with some hard won knowledge.

Hey! Look at me! I’m (potentially) Influential!

Once again, its time for the Dynamics World Top 100 Survey and, once again, I’ve been nominated to the voting list.  I assume this is on the basis of my good looks, charm, and Tarantino like writing skills as opposed to any real merit – but, as I say, take ‘em when you get ‘em.

Or something like that.  Here’s the link:

http://www.dynamicsworld.co.uk/the-top-100-most-influential-people-in-microsoft-dynamics-list-for-2013-page-4/

Vote early!  Vote Often!  Vote for me, get a free beer!

On My Meds: Why I Love Being a Consulting Manager

While at MS Convergence 2013 (#conv13), I drank a couple of Xanax martinis with a twist of Cymbalta and realized why I really do love my job. 

1. The team:  I love working as part of a high performing team.  Watching Abby Moore and Sandra Dodge just KILL their first large public presentation at Convergence 2013 was a complete joy.  Add in Frank Hamelly, Mark Polino (that’s right, two MVP’s), Clinton Weldon, Jon Byrd, EJ Reese and all the other members of the IBIS convergence team and you get an astonishingly great group of folks to admire.

2.  The partners:  Despite Microsoft’s continued and misguided efforts to accidentally erode the partner channel, it’s still a really solid group of smart, forward looking hardworking folks. 

3.  The customers:  The reason we exist, the meaning in our work lives, the purpose behind the 40+ per week we spend together.  #Conv13 reminded me of the tremendous relationships I’ve forged and friendships made over the years with the people who pay my salary.  In general, they are awesome and building things to make them better at what they do is why we all get up in the morning.

Put all those together and its like driving a Ferrari on the Autobahn at high noon while the physicist supermodel next to you explains she’s actually a wealthy heiress and she’d like nothing better than to coddle you financially for the rest of your life.

Boo-ya.  Loving my life,

 

Dwight

#Conv13: Nahwlins. Nuff Said

I arrived last night in New Orleans to attend that perennial crowd favorite, Microsoft Convergence (Not to be confused, of course, with Convergence 2013 the chubby chasers convention put on by Girth and Mirth of South Texas). As soon as the cab dropped me off at the Marriott Convention Center, I knew I was back in the Big Easy based solely on the stench of gumbo, stale beer and that particular sent of desperation given off by middle aged men who insist on “bringing it” whenever they go to NOLA.

Day one is really all about three things:

• Booth setup: Check out the pictures on the @ibisinc twitter feed. IBIS will have both a DynamicsCare and Advanced Distribution Software booth.
• Partner Community meetings: These are the pre-meetings that purport to help partners do better running their business that Microsoft seems intent on destroying through lower software margins, EA sales and direct sales and consulting competition. Yawn. Skipped. Apparently a ton of partners feel the same way – have yet to talk to anyone that wanted to go.
• The Randy and Andy Party: Always a crowd favorite, I’ll be doing my usual show up, say hi to Andy, then getting out before some drunk tries to cop a feel off me thinking, in the beer goggled glory, that I’m actually Marissa Tomei.

If you happen to be at the convention, text or tweet me or stop by booth 2522.

Out ya’ll.

Off My Meds: Why I Hate Being A Consulting Manager

I’m off my meds, seriously raging and thought that you, my faithful readers, should bear the brunt of my imbalance and anger.

I love this industry. And I really love 99% of clients with whom I’ve worked. But, once you go high enough up, you HAVE to deal with unhappy clients as a major part of your job. Oh, you may think “but if you did your job right, they’d be happy”. Bullshit. This job is like selling someone new construction real estate than telling them they have to help you pour the foundation and nail up shingles. You can’t do it without the client being right there with you, but too often they are not then they blame you for it. Look, I totally get it if we oversold the product capabilities. If our staff trained poorly, didn’t show up with the expected degree of professionalism or didn’t fully understand the business requirements, we SHOULD be held responsible. If we were just assholes, fine, hold me accountable and ask me to be better.

But, please, tell me: exactly how goddamn responsible for the world’s problems am I supposed to be? Why is it my fault when the client:

• Doesn’t spend time, any time, on the system during the implementation and then complains the training was insufficient.
• Doesn’t make timely design decisions, then complains about cost overruns.
• Doesn’t take time away from their day job and then gets angry with project staff when they call it out.
• Assumes some random field should be on a report (which is invariably critical to their business), then asks for it at NC because “Any accounting system does that”. Did you spend any time during the pilot looking at this “critical” feature? And, remember that sign off your partner put in front of you after the Pilot? Yeah, didn’t think so.
• Signs change requests for modifications, then refuses to pay them because “that was covered in the sales cycle”. Yeah, no shit, it was. Hence the CR being deployed when the final design was complete.
• Assumes the words “Time and Materials” always, constantly, and forever mean “Fixed Fee”
• Bitches about rates. Do you have any idea how much money our industry invests in keeping people up to date? And guess what, our industry’s labor rates are barely higher than a Ford dealer charges for doing an oil change.

To top it all off, we then get assholes likes this guy who lend credence to the asinine argument that its ALWAYS the consultants fault no matter what.

If you read my blog, then you know I have a core value around partnership (not around clean language, clearly, but no one is perfect), not just when easy, but thoroughly, constantly and always. But partnership is a natively bi-lateral relationship: both parties have to take it seriously. So, when we do and the client doesn’t, why blame us? Take a look at the problem in the mirror first.

Sheesh. Makes me want to chase my real ambition: being a plus sized model for fly fishing apparel.

Peace out. See you at #Conv13.

Managing Without Authority

Andy Vabulas (CEO of IBIs and All Around Great Guy) sent me a link to a pretty interesting article written by the good folks at MPMM, a software company specializing in project  management software.

What piqued my interest was the idea of managing without authority.  This is something we have to deal with EVERY day as consultants.  The take on it below is related to project management, but is equally applied to any influenced based relationship, much like ours with our consulting clients.

 

How To Manage Project Staff That Do Not Report To You

 

One of the frustrating parts of being a project manager is that it can be difficult to manage the project when you have no formal management authority over the members of your team. From an organizational perspective, if the people do not report to you as a functional manager, then you are probably operating in some type of matrix structure. The matrix makes the most efficient use of people resources, but it can also be very challenging on the part of project managers.

How do you hold team members accountable for their deadlines without this authority?

Proactively Manage Project Resources Without Authority

If team members are missing their deadlines you must first try to determine the cause. For example, if it is due to a lack of skills, this should be addressed through training or replacement resources. If it is because they do not fully understand the expectations you have, then you may have some changes to make as well.

Although the team members do not report to you functionally, their work on the project should still be input into their overall performance review.  You can try to hold people accountable by making sure they understand that you will be providing performance feedback into their review. This should also be reiterated and agreed to by the functional managers

From a process management side, there are project management techniques and processes that should be utilized. First of all, if the availability and performance of the team is in doubt, you should raise this early as a project risk. As part of risk management, you need to put a proactive plan in place to make sure that this risk is addressed. When people miss their deadlines and your deadline is in jeopardy, you may need to raise an issue and perform issues management. During issues management, you again look for the cause of the problem and try to resolve it.

In addition, make sure your team members are communicating proactively with you. In many cases, it is not the fact that people miss their deadlines that gets you frustrated; it is that the team member does not tell you ahead of time. If the team member communicates proactively, you can see the problem beforehand while you still some ability to help. If he just misses the date and does not communicate, then he is not managing expectations as should be done. By the same token, the project manager needs to communicate proactively as well. Communicate well with your team and make sure they understand dates and expectations. Also communicate proactively with the functional managers and make sure they know when there are resource sharing issues or people performance issues.

Matrix management involves a complex and delicate balancing act between project managers and people managers. The project manager usually has limited people management authority in these situations. Even so, it is possible to complete your projects successfully. There are many project management processes and techniques that can help. Utilize them to raise risks and issues when needed. Also, make sure you utilize the project sponsor. The sponsor can help you generate urgency and focus, and can also have an impact on the functional managers to make sure that you have the resources you need to be successful.

Easy Incremental Revenue

I have a simple method for getting incremental revenue out of ERP users, touch them. No, not in a creepy, restraining order kind of way. Go visit with them. Yep, that’s all it takes. There is something about face to face interaction that makes people ask questions, explain problems and look for solutions. It is almost universal that when I walk into a client, they need more than I’m able to give them in a single visit. It comes out in the form of “We’re having a problem with…” or “Do you know of a solution to…”

 

This is one of the reasons why partners do so much business at events like Convergence. Users that would never pick the phone and ask for help will show up with a laundry list of requests. Of course, you don’t have to wait for an event, you can throw your own event around something like the GP 2013 launch. You can also just go and visit them with nothing to sell. Show off the free Professional Service Tools or the free Support Debugging Tool. Give a little value before you get. That’s the definition of real partnership.

 

This works really well if you have folks on the bench too. Call up clients and give them a free consulting hour on anything, Smartlists, Excel Reports, you name it. If the ROI isn’t at least 8 hours of billable time, the consultant is doing something wrong.

 

As the old AT&T slogan went, “reach out and touch someone.”