What does ‘rapid’ really mean?

30 July 2018

One of the real strengths of working with a consultancy is the ability to increase the size of your team, bring in extra skills and get a project off the ground very quickly.  When you’re behind schedule on a market launch, regulatory submission, or faced with an unexpected verification test failure or recall, this speed can be the difference between successful and unsuccessful outcomes for your project.

So what does ‘rapid’ actually mean?  How fast is fast?  Let’s illustrate with an example of a project Springboard completed recently:

One Wednesday, we received a call from a client already known to us, asking us for help with an urgent problem.  This would require a mix of literature-based scientific research and practical testing in the lab.  Results were needed as quickly as possible, and certainly in time for a meeting three weeks later.

Springboard pulled out all the stops to plan the project and write a detailed proposal within two days, submitting this to the client on Friday morning.  The client was able to send written authorisation the same day, and put parts in the post for next day delivery.

The project leader briefed his team at 10 am on Monday morning.  The team – comprising two PhD-level scientists and a graduate engineer, with technical oversight from one of Springboard’s directors – hit the ground running.  Devices were disassembled and testing began before lunchtime.

The first update call to the client was delivered at lunchtime on Thursday.  This was a 30-slide PowerPoint presentation rich in technical detail, all of which was backed up with either laboratory experiments or cited academic papers.  In discussion with the client’s team members, we agreed the priorities for the next week of research.

Two more updates were delivered before the client’s original deadline, and the client went into their meeting briefed and confident.  A 42-page report, backing up all of the observations and conclusions drawn with full references, followed a week later.

Two days to plan and propose a project.  One week to deliver first results.  One month to deliver a complete project yielding real technical insight to drive policymaking.  No ongoing commitment.  A real illustration of how an agile consultancy can react much faster than a large corporation, and so add real value to urgent development and troubleshooting projects.