Books > Big Apple Two Bites : The Process Consultant angle
Big Apple 2 Bites
The Process Consultant angle
Sen, the protagonist of the novel, is a Process Consultant by profession. He is a Statistician with published papers on the use of neural networks in Process metrics.
"That is probably the deepest any fictional work has gone in exploring the crazy world of process consultancy," says the author.
Is it based on his own experiences?
"Any work of fiction is an extrapolation of the author's own experiences," he says.
And does it not paint a queer, sometimes farcical picture of Process Consultancy and the Consulting industry in particular? It does deal with a lot of lies and super lies that are sold to clients ..
"Tell me one thing in the modern world that is not farcical in retrospection."
Being a consultant did help in evading questions and stating his point as he wants to ...
"A large part of the book deals with the role of chance and lies in the world. Probably that is why the Consultant was the most suitable profession for the hero, to get a ringside view of the world of lies," the author winks.
He even uses terminology like six sigma, CMM, productivity, Risk analysis and so on ... he does not go deep into the concepts, but reaches a hilarious highpoint when the boss wishes to impress the clients and wants him to quote high figures, changing the probability values from 0.7 to 800 or thereabouts !! DId he face problems like that during his own Process Consultancy career?
"Yes, I did, and did face many more such absurdities. Some of them are too strange to be told as fiction ...Strange indeed!!! one has to dilute truth to make it believable as fiction."
What about the pet professional peeve of the hero? He has published a paper on Neural Networks. So, whatever he produces needs to have a neural network angle to justify his cost to the client.
"This is very much like the ridiculous situations that are faced in the world of absurd consultancy nowadays. And that is whay, towards the end, Sen decides to battle ridiculousness with ridiculousness."
Makes for great reading if you are a Process consultant, a member of the industry or just someone looking for a fun time with thought provoking questions.
