Avoiding TL;DR status updates

Posted on by Mark Myers Leave a comment

Management and technical resources speak very different languages. We’ve all known this for ages, and I don’t just mean the acronyms and formal formats that each side uses. They genuinely see the world in slightly different ways. What feels like a perfectly clear form of communication to one side can be almost incomprehensible to the other.

This gap shows up most clearly when one side is expecting something specific from the other but only phrase it in their own terms. I see this most often in status updates.

Managers tend to approach status updates in a holistic way, covering the entire project. If you’re unlucky, this might mean multiple slide decks. More commonly, it takes the form of long, structured emails sent out at regular intervals to the technical teams. The problem is that these communications are very much TL;DR 1 to the tech teams. Somewhere inside there may be a specific task for an individual, but the actual responsibility, timing, and relationship to other work isn’t clear to the technical teams that are doing the work.

This is where project managers need to go the extra mile. Yes, it’s important to produce that “state of the nation” overview for the project. Yes, senior stakeholders often want slide decks that show the big picture at a glance. But if you expect deliverables from technical teams, especially when there are multiple teams with separate budgets and priorities, it’s far better to follow up with individuals or team leads.

A simple, targeted email to the responsible contact in each team, spelling out exactly what you need and by when, cuts through the noise. Without this, you risk adding to the confusion. Technical staff are often bombarded with 10, even 15, different project update calls in a single day. These inevitably clash, contradict, or simply blur together.

If you want results, you can’t just carve out a block of “admin time” in people’s calendars and expect it all to be absorbed. Keep your asks small, specific, and clear. The less of people’s time you waste, the more effective the outcome will be.

  1. or “Too Long Didn’t read”[↩]

How to Be a Small Consultancy Working with Huge Companies

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My colleagues and I work as a genuine small consultancy. We’ve been that way for a long time, That means we rarely work through agents. Agencies do a lot for contractors and take a lot of the boring stuff away, but without them, much of that suddenly lands on your own desk.
Here are the biggest things you’ll need to handle financially when you’re a small business working with the giant multinationals.

1) Working at risk

“Working at risk” is big-company shorthand for starting work before a contract is fully signed, meaning you might not get paid. It happens because internal contracting and approval processes often move far slower than the need to deliver. Large consultancies accept this as normal. If you’re used to agency work, you won’t have seen it because your contract sits with the agency. As a real company, you will face it regularly.

2) Slow payments

Large organisations pay slowly, sometimes very slowly. Even with everything done correctly, you may wait months (45 or even 90 day terms are common), and practical delays can push invoices being paid out to six months. there is rarely malice in this; it’s just how the corporate machinery works. You will need enough cashflow to cover at least six months of outgoings without incoming invoices when first starting out.

3) “Bad” software (that’s actually just hideously complex)

You might run your own invoicing on tools like FreshBooks, Xero or QuickBooks. Your clients will likely use things like Coupa, Planview and other enterprise platforms. From your vantage point, they can seem dreadful or illogical. In reality, you’re seeing only a tiny slice of a system coping with huge complexity. Expect odd workflows and fields that make little sense in isolation. Be patient, ask for a short walkthrough, and build simple internal checklists so you submit things right first time.

4) Being treated like a multinational

Flattering? Yes. Fun? Not really. Many procurement teams are set up to deal with Accenture, PwC, Deloitte, and the like, so the template master services agreement you’re handed will be written with them in mind. Hire a good lawyer you get on with, and have them mark up practical adjustments for a company your size. Most procurement people are sensible; if you clearly explain what’s unreasonable, they’ll often accommodate it, provided you stay constructive rather than combative.

5) Invisible thresholds

Everything can be cruising along nicely and then, bang, You’re suddenly pulled into confrontational calls and quizzed on billing details that were fine last year, sometimes over very small amounts. What’s happened is you’ve crossed an internal threshold: end of financial year timing, a budget code boundary, or a spend level that pushes approvals to a higher tier. None of this may be visible (or shareable) to you. Don’t take it personally. Break invoices down, align to the right periods, and help them route approvals cleanly.

6) Absorbing costs and tasks

You may be asked to absorb items you’d normally pass on as expenses to a project such as, ISO certifications, bits of hardware, software licences, and so on. Big consultancies often bundle these into their rates or already hold the certifications, so the client expects “sure we’ll cover that” when asked. As a small company, you’re competing with that standard. Decide what you’ll absorb, what you’ll explicitly scope and price, and where you’ll simply say “that’s out of scope, here’s the cost”. Transparency helps, but be prepared to shoulder some admin and paper work to keep things moving.

Final thoughts

Working with huge companies is absolutely doable, and rewarding, if you plan for the realities: accept some risk (carefully), maintain strong cash reserves, get proper legal support, expect bureaucracy, and keep your documentation spotless. Do that, and you can go toe-to-toe with the big players while keeping the advantages that make small firms valuable: speed, focus, and high skill.

What I carry in my Work Pack 2025

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This is an update to my 2023 post of the same name, and a companion to my fellow LDC Via colleague’s post. Back in the Lotus days we used to do these regularly about our desks, but now we’re all far more mobile. I spend a lot of time travelling and working in clients’ offices. My habit of carrying just about everything has continued, in fact, it’s probably got a bit worse. I like to arrive on site and not need a single thing from the client, not even power.

The bag

I’ve stepped up from my previous lightweight rucksack to one mainly designed for camera gear, and it’s perfect. It opens completely flat, almost like a suitcase, so it’s easy to pack, with multiple pockets and near bomb-proof construction. The only downside is the laptop sleeve sits in the lid; I’d prefer it against my back. Aside from that, it’s spot on. As you can see, I pack it to the gunwales.

Power & cables

Most of the power kit remains the tried-and-true set, updated to newer versions. I’m using the latest Anker power brick and the same power supply and cables I normally carry. I now keep two or three USB-C leads, plus a Thunderbolt cable, while I don’t use Apple products, everyone I know seems to, and a friend with a cable is a friend indeed.

I’ve switched my earpiece to Yealink. It’s cheaper, and, oddly, the microphone is better than my previous Sennheiser ones. I also carry a backup mouse. My main mouse is still a Logitech, kept in a hard case.

Notebooks & pens

My notepad used to be a Moleskine, but they stopped making the hard notebooks I liked, so I ordered custom ones. They turned out cheaper than Moleskine and exactly what I wanted. I’ve moved from a ballpoint to a fibre-tip pen, more convenient, and I’m working through various brands to find one that doesn’t disintegrate after a short time.

Food & drink

I’m carrying more of my own food now. Turning up to client sites on industrial estates means there’s rarely food or drink nearby, and bringing my own helps diet-wise. I tend to carry a couple of energy drinks, some vitamins, a couple of protein bars, ginger shots in a flask, and a water bottle.

On water bottles: I want one that won’t topple easily, seals absolutely watertight (you’d be amazed how many don’t), and is easy to scrub out. I’ve ended up using a classic Thermos food flask and it’s been perfect.

Clothing & comforts

I now carry a reinforced glasses case with backup specs (I am, after all, an older man), and a shoe bag. I don’t walk around in smart shoes, too much distance, so I carry work shoes separately.

I’ve upgraded the desk fan to a unit originally designed to cool a PS5. It’s utterly silent and runs off USB,

Stationery & spares

My portable keyboard is still the same Logitech one from 2023 in a hard case. In the same pouch I keep sticky bookmarks, blank to-do cards, and spare pens.

Misc. items

Heavy-duty “shower” wipes, not just baby wipes, plus a small spot cleaner and ordinary tissues.

Spare collar stiffeners, whiteboard markers (details are in the 2023 post) and a microfibre cloth.

It does weigh quite a bit, especially with all the liquids, but it means I arrive prepared, feel professional, and can be self-sufficient at any client site.

 

Corporate term: “The grandfather trap”

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Definition

The Grandfather Trap is the slow erosion of an organisation’s ability to perform essential tasks because long-standing users retain legacy permissions while new users cannot obtain them. Over time, fewer and fewer people can actually do the work.

Explanation

“Grandfathering” is common in sales: long-time customers keep their original pricing as a loyalty perk. In corporate IT, a similar pattern appears with access and permissions.

A group of users who have “always done the job” may hold rights that are now discouraged or outright forbidden such as local admin rights, access to deprecated tools, or exemptions from modern controls. They keep the lights on because those privileges let them work around new constraints. But when new staff join, they can’t get the same rights. Processes and security settings have moved on; the forms have changed; risk appetites have tightened.

Crucially, when those changes were introduced, few had the time, or the courage, to retrospectively remove legacy rights from existing users. Grandfathered users often hold soft power, and if you pull their access and something breaks, the blame lands on the person who removed it. So the path of least resistance wins: change the form for tomorrow, leave yesterday untouched.

This creates a time bomb. People leave, get promoted, or move teams. The population of users who can perform essential functions shrinks until, one day, the last “grandfather” goes, and something critical fails. No one else has the permissions (or the old tool) to fix it. You get a major incident and real financial impact. And because each step towards tighter controls was individually justified, accountability is diffuse, even though the outcome harms the organisation.

Disclaimer: As always these posts are not aimed at anyone client or employer and are just my personal observations over a lifetime of dealing with both management and frontline associates.

 

Time for Some Paperwork

Posted on by Mark Myers Leave a comment

One of the core differences I’ve found between the highly technical work I did for most of my career and the more managerial, higher-level work I’ve focused on in the last decade is the need for certifications.

When you’re purely technical, certifications are often slightly looked down on. Think back to the old MCSE days: we’d do boot camps, pass them in droves, and they became less and less relevant. On top of that, so much technical work is done in ways the vendor never intended. Salesforce and IBM are both particularly famous for this.

In integration work I often found ways to do what they didn’t want you to do or to get round things without paying extra. Certifications mattered very little. You went to technical interviews, had proper conversations, and your reputation for solving problems, plus the evidence on places like this blog, proved you were worth the money.

In the managerial space, it’s harder. Almost everyone can talk the hind legs off a donkey. People are very good at making a case because they’ve sold projects and big ideas for years, and they’re used to selling themselves. So when I reviewed my CV (as I do every six months) and asked, “What can I update to show I’m better at my job for a client?”, there wasn’t a great deal I could change. I had more projects under my belt and more experience, of course, but it didn’t give me much I could actually update. Unlike technical roles, much of management has been, frankly, the same for decades, if not centuries.

So what to do? Well, I’ve sounded out clients informally and looked at what potential roles are wanting, and I’ve landed on a list of qualifications, courses, and bits of paperwork I should complete to demonstrate the progression I want to show as an individual and a consultant. Quite a lot of them are stuff I have been actually practicing for many years, so passing should hopefully be a case of phrasing my existing knowledge in the format the examiners want, but some will be genuine learning, and that is always fun.

This post is mainly a line in the sand for me, something I can update over time, but it should also give others an indication of what you might need if you’re heading down a similar path. They are as follows:

Then the Big boys that will take some time to complete

  1. This one is more an in-passing item [↩]