Why should they tell you what hammer to use?

Why operating as an independent consultant often means using tools you dislike.

Both me and the man currently smashing my bathroom to pieces are both independent professionals. We are self-employed and we get to choose the clients we work for.

However, the builder in my house has one freedom that I don’t usually have. And it causes a lot of stress, no matter how much I try to simplify my working life.

When he begins work, I don’t say ‘Oh, you can’t use that hammer in this house. We only use this particular hammer.’ Or, ‘This is the drill that we’ve decided will suit this household, so if you want to make a hole, you need to buy this drill.´

That would be ridiculous. He chooses the tools he wants to and he has a reason for that choice.

And yet this is exactly the kind of things clients say to independent consultants. They don’t even do you the courtesy of asking what tools we use. They just assume you will toe the line.

Does it matter that I need to use MS Teams? Or PowerPoint? Or Word?

It does to me. I dislike all of these applications intensely and I would rather not have any of them on my Mac.

This is my personal viewpoint and I do, of course, respect anyone who disagrees. I also know that individuals in companies also don’t get to choose what software they use because that decision was taken by someone in IT.

I also know that it might be very inconvenient for one of my clients to go against the grain and use Zoom or any of the alternatives to the usual suite of office apps.

But I long for the day when I can say ‘This is the way I work and these are the tools we’re going to be using on this project.´