VeraSage

John Shaver

And if you’re a consultant who bills for their time you will see this curve inversely because the majority of the time is traditionally spent on the implementation part.

The smile curve is another great way to debunk the labor theory of value.

Bradley B. Clark

I practice law in Austin, Texas.  I like the model but my initial reaction is that the model attributes maximum value at the end of the production chain.  This is one of the major criticisms of the billable hour; that is, there is no incentive to shorten the production chain which in most cases increases value to the client.  In most complex litigation cases there is enormous work (and value) in the planning process.  We will see the legal industry start recognizing the value of project management and implement PM.  PM is much different than case management.  I think that implementation of the plan through project management will also have enormous value to customers.

Ed Kless

@Bradley, thanks for your comment. I appreciate your insight into the legal profession on this. I would think that what have been traditionally known as retainers would be replaced by an on-going Service Level Agreement. This would be the upside of the value on the right side of the model for you.

Steve Benway

Ed, I think this would make a great addendum to, or even replacement for, the Emotional Project Lifecycle bisecting curve (workload vs. confidence level).

It frames the relationship/partnership between customer and consultant in a more positive light than the Lifecycle curve, and as one of the main purposes of the hand-off meeting (which is where we currently present the Lifecycle curve) is to instill confidence in the customer that they have, indeed, chosen the right people for the job, a “smile” certainly captures that better than a bisecting curve.

I’m not completely sold on using “implementation” on this curve, although I’m not sure what I would use in its place.

Also, if this were to be something we presented as part of a presentation to a customer, I’d be tempted to drop the “support” and move “Go Live” (or “Live Production” to the apex of the curve, signaling the customer that they’ll see the greatest value as we conclude the project and bring the system online.

(Now that I read through that last paragraph, I’m less sure about my reasoning, but I’ll leave it in if you’d care to critique it.)

Ed Kless

@Steve, thanks for adding your thoughts. I am still playing with this idea and it definitely needs refining so keep the ideas coming.

I spoke with Ron about it and we thought that adding a reverse (frown) curve which would represent the billings done on a hourly engagement. I’ll probably post an updated curve in the future.

Tom Doran

Very interesting concept Ed.  I agree with your assessment which also leads to a question relative how this same concept of value can drive us to focus more on a Theory of Constraints model that drives us to increase throughput rather than effort.

The key concept is that our clients want work that is done correctly as quickly as possible.  The keys to correct work is proper scope and design and speed to deployment gets us the the other side of the “smile” as quickly as possible.

Ed Kless

Thanks, Tom. I am still rolling this around in my brain, but I do think there is something here.