---
name: consultancy-practices
description: "Apply effective software quality consultancy practices. Use when consulting, advising clients, or establishing consultancy workflows."
category: professional-practice
priority: medium
tokenEstimate: 950
agents: [qe-quality-analyzer, qe-regression-risk-analyzer, qe-quality-gate]
implementation_status: optimized
optimization_version: 1.0
last_optimized: 2025-12-03
dependencies: []
quick_reference_card: true
tags: [consulting, advisory, client-engagement, quality-assessment, transformation]
trust_tier: 1
validation:
  schema_path: schemas/output.json

---

# Consultancy Practices

<default_to_action>
When consulting on quality:
1. LISTEN FIRST: Understand their context before prescribing solutions
2. DISCOVER: What's the pain? What have they tried? What are constraints?
3. PRIORITIZE: Impact/effort matrix - high impact, low effort first
4. TRANSFER KNOWLEDGE: Leave them better, not dependent on you
5. MEASURE: Define success metrics upfront, track weekly

**Engagement Types:**
- **Assessment (1-4 weeks)**: Discover, analyze, recommend
- **Transformation (3-12 months)**: Implement new practices
- **Advisory (ongoing)**: Strategic guidance, course-correct
- **Crisis (1-4 weeks)**: Fix critical issues blocking production

**Key Questions:**
- "Walk me through your last deployment"
- "Tell me about a recent bug that escaped to production"
- "If you could fix one thing, what would it be?"
</default_to_action>

## Quick Reference Card

### The Consulting Process

| Phase | Duration | Goal | Deliverable |
|-------|----------|------|-------------|
| **Discovery** | Week 1-2 | Understand context | Interview notes, observations |
| **Analysis** | Week 2-3 | Identify root causes | Impact/effort matrix |
| **Recommendations** | Week 3-4 | Present findings | Report with roadmap |
| **Implementation** | Month 2-6+ | Execute changes | Working system, trained team |
| **Transition** | Final month | Ensure self-sufficiency | Handover docs |

### Impact/Effort Matrix

| Priority | What | Action |
|----------|------|--------|
| High Impact, Low Effort | Quick wins | Do first |
| High Impact, High Effort | Major initiatives | Plan carefully |
| Low Impact, Low Effort | Nice-to-haves | If time permits |
| Low Impact, High Effort | Distractions | Skip |

---

## Common Patterns

### "We Need Test Automation"

**What they say:** "We need test automation"
**What they mean:** "Manual testing is too slow/expensive"

**Discovery:** How long is regression? What's deployment frequency?

**Typical Finding:** They need faster feedback, not "automation"

**Recommendation:**
1. Unit tests for new code (TDD)
2. Smoke tests for critical paths
3. Keep exploratory for discovery
4. Build automation incrementally

### "Fix Our Quality Problem"

**What they say:** "We have too many bugs"
**What they mean:** "Something is broken but we don't know what"

**Discovery:** Where found? What types? When introduced?

**Typical Finding:** No test strategy, testing too late, poor feedback loops

**Recommendation:**
1. Shift testing left
2. Improve coverage on critical paths
3. Speed up CI/CD feedback
4. Better requirements/acceptance criteria

### "We Want to Scale Quality"

**What they say:** "Growing fast, quality can't keep up"
**What they mean:** "Can't hire enough QA fast enough"

**Discovery:** Current QA:Dev ratio? Where's QA spending time?

**Typical Finding:** QA is bottleneck - manual regression, gatekeeping

**Recommendation:**
1. Make QA strategic, not tactical
2. Developers own test automation
3. QA focuses on exploratory, risk analysis
4. Use agentic approaches for scale

---

## Anti-Patterns

| Anti-Pattern | Problem | Better |
|--------------|---------|--------|
| **Cookie-Cutter** | Same solution everywhere | Context-specific recommendations |
| **Tool Pusher** | Recommend expensive tools | Tools that solve actual problems |
| **Process Nazi** | Impose rigid process | Lightweight, fits their culture |
| **Permanent Fixture** | Never leave, create dependency | Work toward them not needing you |
| **Blame Game** | Point fingers at people | Fix systems, not blame people |

---

## Difficult Situations

**"We already tried that"**
→ "Tell me what you tried and what didn't work" (learn from their experience)

**"Our context is special"**
→ "Help me understand what makes yours special" (they might be right, or making excuses)

**"We don't have budget/time"**
→ "What's the cost of not fixing this? Let's start small" (show ROI)

**"That won't work here"**
→ "What specific constraints? Let's adapt" (find what WILL work)

---

## Agent Integration

```typescript
// Automated codebase assessment
const assessment = await Task("Assess Codebase", {
  scope: 'client-project/',
  depth: 'comprehensive',
  reportFormat: 'executive-summary'
}, "qe-quality-analyzer");

// Returns: { qualityScore, testCoverage, technicalDebt, recommendations }

// ROI analysis for quality initiatives
const roi = await Task("Calculate ROI", {
  currentState: { defectEscapeRate: 0.15, mttr: 48 },
  proposedImprovements: ['test-automation', 'ci-cd-pipeline'],
  timeframe: '6-months'
}, "qe-quality-analyzer");

// Returns: { estimatedCost, estimatedSavings, paybackPeriod }
```

---

## Agent Coordination Hints

### Memory Namespace
```
aqe/consultancy/
├── assessments/*      - Client assessments
├── recommendations/*  - Prioritized recommendations
├── roi-analysis/*     - ROI calculations
└── progress/*         - Implementation tracking
```

### Fleet Coordination
```typescript
const consultingFleet = await FleetManager.coordinate({
  strategy: 'client-engagement',
  agents: [
    'qe-quality-analyzer',          // Assess current state
    'qe-regression-risk-analyzer',  // Risk assessment
    'qe-quality-gate',              // Define quality gates
    'qe-deployment-readiness'       // Deployment maturity
  ],
  topology: 'hierarchical'
});
```

---

## Related Skills
- [quality-metrics](../quality-metrics/) - Metrics for client reporting
- [risk-based-testing](../risk-based-testing/) - Client risk assessment
- [holistic-testing-pact](../holistic-testing-pact/) - Comprehensive strategy

---

## Remember

**Good consulting is about empowering teams, not creating dependency.** Your success is measured by them not needing you anymore - while still wanting to work with you again.

**Best compliment:** "We've got this now, but when we tackle X next year, we're calling you."

Be honest. Be helpful. Be context-driven. Leave them better.