Barring the long-term partner projects, I find there are three types of consulting engagements when you work for a product company:
Strategic: Getting the project off the ground
Tactical: Providing a solution to an isolated slice of the client project
Rescue: For the clients who thought about the first two engagements, rejected them, and then got stuck
An experienced product consultant will have experience across the full SDLC, but rarely for a single project. This is simply an observation and not positive or negative outside of the subjective context of the individual consultant.
Have you experienced another type of engagement? Post it here as a comment!
© Scott S. Nelson