The Consultant’s Toolkit

by Jerry Weinberg

Dorset House: The central theme of More Secrets is what you call ”the consultant’s tool kit,” which includes symbolic objects like a mirror, a telescope, and a fish-eye lens. Tell us how you put together your tool kit, especially how it relates to the late family therapist Virginia Satir’s self-esteem tool kit?

Weinberg: Virginia taught me that I had all the tools I needed to be a successful consultant (and human being), but that I might not be using all those tools to their fullest potential. Virginia’s tool kit was inspired by Frank Baum’s Wizard of Oz, where Dorothy and her friends made a long journey only to discover that they already had the tools they so fervently desired. I believe that we all have those tools, and the purpose of this book is to remind us of some we’ve forgotten, or that we underutilize.

Dorset House: So many books focus on technical skills, professional certification, and the mastery of trendy software development methods, but yours concentrates on the personal abilities, attitudes, and self-esteem of computer consultants. What led you to this concentration?

Weinberg: Willy Sutton, the bank robber, was asked why he robbed banks. He replied, ”Because that’s where the money is.” I write about personal abilities, attitudes, and self-esteem of consultants because that’s where the money is — the payoff in a successful consulting practice.

(translations: Japanese, Chinese, German)

Available from Dorset House