Lack of authority can be one of the most frustrating problems for a consultant. You work on a project and perhaps have technical responsibility for the resulting product. You may even be managing it with regard to scheduling the project and determining resources in the form of people and tools and equipment. You may be interfacing with vendors and suppliers and customers. However, you are not formally a member of the company. You don't control the finances. You don't control the salaries of your coworkers. You have no authority. Even if a client gives you authority, there is no guarantee that anyone will take it seriously. I have worked on projects where some of the others on the team, employees of my client, were simply not very competent or simply not doing their share of the work. They don't report to me and I don't give them their annual reviews. Some have been so bold as to point this out to me. The solution? Well, you can act authoritative. Some people will respect you, even though you don't have real power. You can also point out these problems to the company management. Sometimes they listen, sometimes they don't. Or you can do the best job you can under the circumstances and know that the project may be late or over budget or result in less than ideal output. You collect your check and move on to the next project.

One policy that I have in situations where things are not going as planned is to leave a conspicuous paper trail. By that, I mean document any problems that you see. Send memos to your client regularly, telling them about these problems. These memos might point out that you feel you don't have enough funds to purchase the right equipment. Or that the company is skipping an essential phase of development. Or that you don't feel that you coworkers have the right skills for their assignments. There is a temptation to blame disasters on the highly paid consultants that were involved. Most companies resist these temptations. Some don't. For those situations, this paper trail helps you defend yourself against unwarranted complaints. It's rarely needed, but when it is, it's great protection.