
Managing The Professional Service Firm

Consider what will happen if a firm brings in a mix of client work such that its “proper” staffing requirements would be for a slightly higher mix of juniors, and a lesser mix of seniors than it has (i.e., the work is…
Some highlights have been hidden or truncated due to export limits.
David H. Maister • Managing The Professional Service Firm
Can we become better than our competition at accumulating, disseminating, and building on our firmwide expertise and experience, so that each professional becomes more valuable in the marketplace by being empowered with a greater breadth and depth of experience?
David H. Maister • Managing The Professional Service Firm
firm whose practice-mix was made up predominantly of clients who, rather than needing the profession’s most creative talent, wanted to find a firm that had accumulated experience in handling certain types of problems, and would not take an expensive “start with a blank sheet of paper” approach to the problem.
David H. Maister • Managing The Professional Service Firm
Many factors play a role in bringing these goals into harmony, but one has a preeminent position: the ratio of junior, middle-level, and senior staff in the firm’s organization, referred to here as the firm’s leverage.
David H. Maister • Managing The Professional Service Firm
many practice groups continue to maintain expertise-based approaches to running their affairs when their marketplace is probably closer to the efficiency stage.
David H. Maister • Managing The Professional Service Firm
When considering new projects to undertake, it is usually more profitable for the firm to engage in one similar to that recently performed for a previous client. The knowledge, expertise, and basic approaches to the problem that have already been developed (often through a significant personal and financial investment) can be capitalized upon by br
... See moreDavid H. Maister • Managing The Professional Service Firm
Once I have decided which firms I will consider in the final set, my focus of enquiry shifts significantly. I am no longer asking “Can you do it?” but rather “Do I want to work with you?” I am no longer interested in the institutional characteristics of your firm, but am now trying to form a judgment about you.
David H. Maister • Managing The Professional Service Firm
private closed-door meetings with each partner and asking “What, precisely, is it that is going to make you special (or even more special) in the marketplace over the next few years? Would you like to develop a specialized expertise in a particular technical area, in certain types of transaction, in the problems of certain types of clients?
David H. Maister • Managing The Professional Service Firm
The only piece of documentation that matters in this process is that listing action commitments: who will do what and by when.