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Plenty of events + regular catch ups = happy consultants

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It's a very simple idea and Capgemini Consulting does it very well; by having regular events and lots if interaction the CDC maintains its sense of community, enables great friendships to form and makes Capgemini a more enjoyable place to work. As event stream lead I have been responsible for organising the events during the last four months ensuring that the CDC continues to achieve the above mentioned objectives. There is steering from management, but the fact that we organise the events for ourselves means that we create events that we would want to attend and ensures they are successful. There are three types of events and they can take on different forms as appropriate.
           
 
1. The highlight of our events calendar are the quarterly CDC meetings which are arranged to coincide with the induction of the new intake, giving everyone the opportunity to get to know each other right from the beginning and get networking. As well as the fun part at each meeting we get updated on how well Capgemini is doing in the market, how we as the CDC are contributing to this and also receive skills updates to help us develop. Previous meetings have included a massive treasure hunt across London (a big family competition which was competitively fought) and at venues including Imperial War Museum and HMS Hispaniola on the Thames.
           
 
2. Each month we organise a "Thursday Night of Fun (TNF)"; these are designed to be really informal and are scheduled to make sure that those on client site out of London can get back and catch up with everyone (including management).
 
 
3. As well as this we set up "Dial Deborah" teleconference calls during which CDCers can ask Deborah, the CDC Manager, any questions and raise concerns. CDCers raise questions anonymously (through the events stream) which avoids the possibility of having any "unaskable" questions and lets queries get solved giving everyone peace of mind.
 
Because we have so many chances to catch up it means we get to know our work colleagues really well, have lots of fun together and become friends. This not only creates a much more enjoyable place to work, but also ensures that there are plenty of people we feel comfortable in turning to for support or advice should it be needed. This makes us happy consultants.

Sian is an Associate Consultant who joined Capgemini Consulting in March 2009. She is currently undertaking a transformation role for an education based public body. 

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Friday - 'I Heart Soho'

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I get into the Wardour Street office by 8.30 and to keep things fresh I decide not to work on the requirements analysis today.  Instead, I continue a volumetrics model that I’ve previously been creating for an upcoming workshop.  This model details the amount of data flowing through the infrastructure components and will eventually be used to inform component sizing.

At mid-day I sit in on an internal lunchtime presentation provided by a member of the Marketing capability unit.  The presentation is on the benefits of a market research tool and is a nice break before lunch where some friends and I grab a bite to eat from one of the many nearby takeaways – a benefit of having an office in the heart of Soho.

I spend the afternoon building the volumetrics model and at 16.00 I attend a MySkills session on Excel hints and tips.  This is the session I’ve been organising in my stream work and I am delighted to see such a large turnout from the CDC – 24 in total!  This is also a great time to network with my intake as I don’t get to see them during the week.

The session finishes at 17.15 and having learnt some useful Excel tricks I pack up and go down to the Slug and Lettuce (which is under the office) with many other CDCers – the working week is over!

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Thursday - 'Average Joe'

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I check-out of the hotel as I’m going to work in Capgemini’s Wardour Street office tomorrow.  There are a few internal sessions that I would like to attend and it’s a good time to catch-up with friends and build the internal network.

This is the fourth day on the requirements analysis and it’s beginning to take shape, however I’m finding it particularly challenging getting information from the various project managers.  I check my emails to find I have no replies to the requirements questions I sent yesterday.  I decide to push on and start the more analytical process of identifying requirement misalignments across the programme.  I highlight a number of potential issues that may affect aspects such as infrastructure, cost, and resources and meet with my client business manager to discuss them further.  We identify the most severe issues from the set and create a plan to tackle them.  Some of these issues require consulting project managers to question their requirements choice.  Others need to be raised with system architects and senior business heads.

The afternoon is spent arranging meetings with the appropriate people to discuss the problems.  My client is pleased with the approach to this analysis and has suggested I do a similar piece of work to identify differences between this programme and another programme.

Today hasn’t been particularly exciting and the lack of email responses can be a let-down.  I leave the office at 17.20 to catch the train back to London.  My manager understands the importance of a work/life balance and is happy for me to work closer to home on Fridays.  I’m looking forward to some home comforts, however I have to cook my own food tonight!

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Wednesday - 'Build that Network'

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Following on from Tuesday's work, I have spotted a number of missing requirements and the entire morning is spent composing emails to Project Managers requesting them.  It can be easy to tread on toes at this stage so it’s key to explain exactly ‘why’ I need these additional requirements and ‘what’ I’m going to do with them.

At mid-day I attend a fortnightly Business Analyst Forum where we discuss any issues which could potentially affect other projects.  With Project Managers and Business Analysts constantly in and out of meetings, it is imperative that everyone is informed of important news and decisions.  This was a fairly quick affair with little news and I’m on time for a teleconference I have set-up with a colleague.  He is part of the Business and Information Strategy (BIS) unit and has agreed to help me become more visible in this area.  As I’m a content focussed CDCer towards the BIS capability unit, I need to begin building my BIS network – this will put me in a good position for future roles and opportunities.

In the afternoon I continue filling in the requirements matrix and spend the evening with a little more stream work before relaxing with a movie.

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Tuesday - 'Hello from Sunny Southend'

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It only takes five minutes to get to the office today so I can afford to snooze the alarm clock a few times.  I get a decent breakfast and take a taxi from the hotel to the office.

I spend the first 20 to 30 minutes of each day sorting out emails from the day before.  This routine ensures that I follow up on any promises and helps organise the dozens of emails I receive each day.

I spend most of the day working independently; extrapolating information from the various requirements documents and feeding them into my matrix.  Although I’m not directly looking for misalignments yet, it is important that I identify if the information is available in the first place.  I work until about 18.30 before taking a taxi back to the hotel.

After dinner I do a few hours ‘stream work’ in the hotel.  Stream work is internal CDC work and my responsibilities are in the Learning and Development (L&D) area.  Currently, I’m organising a series of ‘MySkills’ sessions for the CDC.  These are informal learning sessions that will provide CDCers with valuable skills based on three main themes: key consulting skills, capability units, and sectors.

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Monday - 'Bon Voyage London'

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I get up at 6.30 and get ready to travel to Southend-on-Sea for the week.  This is where my client is based and I’m generally there three to four days a week.  I grab my suitcase and get the tube to Liverpool St.  After fighting the morning rush I board my train to Southend and spend the best part of an hour reading the newspaper.

I arrive at 9.30 and catch-up with my team – which is solely a client team.  My team work on a single project and this, together with another 6 projects, makes up a larger transformation programme.  Today I’m going to start a new piece of requirements analysis work that my business manager set me.  Since the majority of the projects within the programme are in a ‘define’ stage, it is imperative to ensure all their requirements are aligned.  The work that I will be commencing will help align non-functional requirements across the programme.  I discovered that the simplest technique to capture any requirement gaps or misalignments is to create a requirements matrix.  This will be used as a template when collecting the various requirements from each project.  Most of today is spent talking or emailing the project mangers to locate the relevant requirements documentation.  Although I haven’t got much to show for today’s work, I have built the foundations and it has set me on track for the next few days.

At 18.00 I get a taxi to the hotel that I’ve booked into and settle down for a beer and some dinner.

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A Week in the Life of...

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When I started looking at whether consulting was for me, I read dozens of graduate websites that explained: what the company does; what they deliver; how they deliver; how they differentiate themselves; etc.  All very well I thought, however ‘what do graduates actually do on day-to-day basis?’  Well I think the simplest way for me to tell you is to give you a week in the life of.  Yes, 5 days in my life on what I’m doing day to day – a new blog every day of this week.

Please do let me know any thoughts or questions you have.


Alistair Calvert is an Associate Consultant who joined the Capgemini Consulting CDC programme after graduating from Cardiff University in Computer Science.  He is a content focused graduate towards the Business and Information Strategy practice and is currently working as a Business Analyst for a large Government transformation programme.

 

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My 3 Favourite Things About the CDC Programme

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Saatchi stable. School of Rem Koolhaas. House of Chanel. Capgemini CDC.

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OK, budding consultants in the Consultant Development Community may not be critically acclaimed artists but being creative is a huge part our working life.

Coming from a background in advertising I was prepared to keep my creative juices in their box when I joined. However as the weeks flew by it was increasingly obvious that creativity is an important component of what we do and deliver.

One of our main aims is to work collaboratively with our clients so we must think carefully about how we make the most effective use of their time. Distilling large amounts of information into key messages and digestible diagrams, armed with brown paper, post-it notes, blu-tack and scissors, is an art in itself. These invite clients to fully interact and engage with the material resulting in co-created solutions to add value to their organisation.

Not only do we create tools like this but we also consider how to maximise the space we have by creating environments to obtain the best results from client time. Some sessions also begin with icebreakers which we can be creative with to encourage interaction and help attendees feel at ease.  

These skills are taught and tried at CSW (see Fran’s post) and can also be found in our internal work. Finally, it bubbles over into the CDC socials, for instance, I have to think of a secret santa present for my intake with a budget of £0. Ideas are most welcome!

Lysette is an Associate Consultant who joined Capgemini Consulting in September 2008.  She is currently working on a Marketing, Sales & Service Service project for a major Governmental department.

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