Five contributions to a project: money, effort, attention, memory & wisdom

In a recent discussion amongst independents and consultants on pricing, I was reminded of this quote from Jerry Weinberg, one of his ‘laws of pricing’ for consultants:The money is usually the smallest part of the price.I see five contributions to successful consulting projects: money, effort, attention, memory, and wisdom. You’re going to need each of these to pull any nontrivial project off.Knowing this, you are equipped to notice that a broad set of people might end up making these contributions. Not all of them will know or care about your work in advance. They may not even be associated with the organization that is hiring you. Your direct client will put in a lot of effort and attention. But they may have a boss or sponsor who directly or indirectly approves the budget, and someone else might actually pay the money. Effort will come from many other people too: everybody you bring into a meeting or workshop, for starters. Spending time, paying attention. See these words we…