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This is the 10th post of my blog documenting life working at Accenture. The week started with an off-site client meeting to review our scope documentation. We chose an off-site location, using the conference facilities at a local hotel, to minimise the distractions and maximise productivity. The meeting went reasonably well, we were not able to obtain sign-off but did get some input to the scope document.

During the week I sat down with my manager to discuss my role. In order to move forward with my career I need to expand my role and build on my delivery skills. My role leading the implementation of a Management Information tool does utilise my existing skills but does not really give me the opportunity to develop. Once we move into the design phase of the project I will take a step up and oversee three areas (including Management Information) with a junior consultant working in each area and reporting to myself. This will give me a better opportunity to prove my managerial credentials.

The week finished much as it started, in a client meeting at an off-site location. Having updated the scope document in light of the comments from the client we were able to obtain sign-off, a critical milestone in the delivery of the project.

After Christmas we move into the design phase of the project, and I’ll be getting up to speed with my new role.

This is the ninth installment of my blog about life as a consultant at Accenture. The deadline for the planning phase of the project is quickly approaching so it has been a busy week.

Each of the various streams within the project are producing Scope documents defining in some detail what will be delivered. The documents follow a standard structure defined in Accenture’s methodology. By following a standard structure we can concentrate on the content of the documents without having to think about the format. This results in better quality work which is completed more quickly. As several streams on the project are working on Scope documentation for their area we are able to assist one another, providing guidance and peer reviewing each other’s work. By working as a team we all benefit from the experience within the team.

On Wednesday evening, I was able to get away from the office, forget about work for a few hours and go to watch the football team that I follow. One of the advantages of being in the north of England is that I am close to the team that I’ve supported since childhood, so I am hoping to get to a few more games this season than I would normally do. It was a good game, quite a dramatic finish but we came out victorious winning 4-3.

On Thursday evening we had an impromptu team night out, going for a meal in a restaurant. Because most people on the project are from London and living in hotels and apartments in the area, there is a good social network. I got to know a bit better some of the people working on other areas of the project.

After a hectic week with not enough sleep, I spent a quiet weekend visiting my parents and the rest of my family. They live a long way from London so I only get to visit once every couple of months but I always enjoy going back seeing everyone.

Next week I hope to get approval from the client for my Scope definition of the Management Information solution. If I can obtain agreement it will be a major milestone for the project.

Welcome to my eighth instalment of my blog about my consulting experiences. At the start of the week I moved into a corporate apartment a short drive from the client site. The apartment block is new, and we are the first people to live there. I am sharing the apartment with another consultant, and other project members are in other apartments in the block. One evening we all met up together for a bit of food and a drink, it's certainly an improvement on room service meals. Having a permanent base during the week means that I am no longer living out of a suitcase, and I can leave things at the apartment over the weekend rather than carrying everything up and down to London.

Things are moving forward in the planning phase of the management information implementation. I am starting to pull together high level requirements for the solution. We have a tight deadline to get the planning phase done and the deadline has high visibility with the client. This means that I am sometimes working into the evenings, but given that I’m away from home this is not an issue.

Find out how I get on next week as our deadline for the end of the planning phase approaches.

This is the seventh entry of my blog about working as a consultant at Accenture. Things are starting to get busy on the project. We are in the early phases of the project and the team is planning the implementation of various phases. As part of the planning we are capturing information relating to the expectations of the client, and also current capabilities.

I’ve been in several meetings with key client stakeholders. There has been a consistent message in each of these meetings that expectations are high. The client is expecting big improvements from the management information tool that we are implementing. It will be a challenge to satisfy the expectations of the client while delivering the solution on time and to budget.

The novelty of hotel living has worn off. I’ve stayed in several hotels in the area over the passed three weeks. It's not ideal living out of a suitcase and having limited options in terms of food. I should soon be moving into a corporate apartment, which will probably be an improvement. This week I’ve hired a rental car. This is preferable to getting taxis, I can come and go when I want without having to plan ahead to book a taxi, then stand around waiting for it to come.

I’ll hopefully get the keys to my apartment next week so come back and find out how I get on.

Welcome to the sixth post of my blog describing my experiences working as a consultant at Accenture. This week was my second week on my new project and I’m getting my feet under the table. I am building relationships with key stakeholders in my team and other teams, and also with key client contacts. I have formed a plan of the work that I need to get done over the coming month or so.

In the middle of the week I sat down with my manager to define my objectives and his expectations of me. He is quite busy at the moment but it was important that I sat down with him early on in the project. The points we discussed will be revisited later in the project and form the basis of his evaluation of me in the formal evaluation and feedback process.

On Friday I returned to London and met up with my career counsellor. He is a senior executive, and we meet up a couple of times a year to discuss my career development and objectives, and how I am progressing. Although he is in the same operating group as myself, he works with a different client. This means he is impartial and brings a different perspective to discussions. We talked about my new role, and the actions I need to take to ensure I make the most of the role and ensure I get a good review at the end of it.

Because I was in London on Friday, I was able to attend a small community event for the Resources Technology Workgroup. A couple of my colleagues told us of a conference that they’d attended in Italy about Infrastructure Consulting. The material was interesting, it seems there is a lot of potential for growth in this area. After the meeting we went out for a drink to catch up in a more informal environment.

It will be an early start on Monday to get on the train head north back to the client site.

Here is my fifth entry in my blog where I tell you about my experiences as a Technology consultant at Accenture. This week I started on a new project. The client is a resources client in the north of England. The project is out of town, so I’ve spent the week living in a hotel and getting taxis everywhere. It’s a bit of a novelty to stay in a hotel and have everything provided for me.

As usual when joining a new project I spent the first couple of days meeting people and finding out who I’d be working with. I know one or two people from previous projects, and it was good to see a few familiar faces. I’ve also been reading through existing documentation to understand what the project is about and what is expected of my role.

I will be implementing a management information solution. The tool we are deploying is a standard product used by Accenture at many outsourcing engagements. By deploying a standard tool and configuring it to the client’s specific requirements we will be able to implement the solution more quickly and more cheaply than if we were developing a bespoke solution.

At the end of the week I returned to my home in London. Over the weekend I took part in a charity 10k run. I had hardly done any training for it, so I was concerned whether I’d be able to finish it. The run went really well, I managed to make it to the end and completed the run in under an hour which I was pleased about.

Next week I’ll be back out of town for the second week on my new project.

This is the forth posting of my blog describing my life as a consultant at Accenture. After spending three weeks in Chicago teaching new joiners to the company, I've just returned back home to London. Its good to be back and to spend a night in my own bed!

The past week has been hectic, continuing in my faculty role. On Monday I participated in a presentation to the whole school. I stood up and talked to 150 people for a short while. I haven't addressed so many people before but I found that I actually enjoyed it, I used the presentational techniques that I'd learned the previous week in front of a class of 30. Afterwards I received several positive comments about my performance.

As the school drew to a close, I had to evaluate some of the analysts in my class. This involved observing their behaviours, attitudes and participation in class. I wrote some formal feedback and then spent five or ten minutes discussing it with them. For most it was their first taste of getting project feedback at Accenture. I think most of them were aware of their own strengths and weaknesses, so the things I said didn't come as too much of a surprise.

I have managed to secure a role on a new project for when I return to the UK next week. I'll be working for resources client in northern England, implementing a Management Information solution. It sounds as though the role should give me the opportunity to develop and make the next step on my career path. Joining the project does mean that I will be working away from home during the week.

On a personal note, I have got a buyer for my house! I recently returned to Accenture from an unpaid leave of absence. During my time off I bought a run down house and renovated it. When I returned to work I put the house on the market, and I'm really pleased that a buyer has quickly come forward.

On Monday I'll start my new project so be sure to check back to my blog next week to see how I get on.

Welcome to the third entry of my blog where I share my experiences working as a consultant. I'm currently in Chicago teaching the new recruits to the company. This week just gone was my first week of teaching after a week of preparation.

Myself and two other faculty are teaching a group of 30 analysts, mainly from Europe and North America. Some of them just joined the company a couple of weeks ago straight from university, others have been working with the firm for several months. The course is conducted in English, we have a mixture of native English speakers and those for whom English is a second language. We encourage those more fluent in the language to help those who may find it more difficult, its all about working as a team to achieve the best results.

The material of the course is tailored to giving the analysts the tools they need to be successful on their engagements. The whole course is based around Accenture's methodology – a tried and proven way of delivering projects. By following this methodology and using standard tools it means we are not constantly reinventing the wheel. The course has improved a lot since I took it six years ago. In the old days the course involved a lot of programming, but these days we have different workforces for that.

The week has been very intense, with 30 people in the class there are a lot of names to learn, but I'm just about getting there. We are in class from 8am to 6pm with a break for lunch. Even when another faculty member is teaching, or the class are working on an exercise you have to be alert and help out. In the evening there are sometimes social or networking events, and in the evening the faculty also have to prepare their materials for the following day's class. The learning and my fellow faculty have been great, sharing ideas and tips for getting through the day without burning out.

In front of the class I can feel my teaching and presentational style improving a lot. Each day I'll try something new and see how it is received. A couple of times we've had anonymous feedback from the class. They have generally positive comments, and they really like it when we share real life experiences. On Saturday afternoon I once again went down to Chicago. A few of us went to see a Chicago Cubs baseball game at Wrigley Field. I really enjoyed it, especially being served beer and hotdogs at my seat. In the evening we went to a great music bar called Blue Chicago. The live band were great and I bought their CD.

Welcome to the second entry of my blog detailing my daily experiences working as a consultant at Accenture. At the start of this week I flew from the UK out to Chicago. I have come here to teach new analysts from around the world that have just joined the company.

I arrived in Chicago on a rainy Monday evening and was taken to the training centre a little way from Chicago in a limo. I have been to the training centre several times over the past six years, so I know it well. At the training centre accommodation is laid on, as is all the food. It is a self-contained facility with a gym, sports fields, a gift shop and even a bar. The quality of the food is excellent, it takes considerable self-discipline not to stuff your self with the large selection.

On Tuesday the preparation for teaching the Core Analyst School started and I met my fellow teachers (faculty) for the first time. We are a group of 15 consultants and managers mainly from Europe and North America. During preparation week specialist learning coaches have taken us through the course materials and we've had several chances to practice our teaching and presentational skills. I am getting to know the other members of the faculty group. They are a very switched-on set of people, we've been helping each other out a lot giving each other tips and guidance, providing support to one-another. Over the next couple of weeks I'll be working closely with a manager from Seattle and a consultant from Paris. Between the three of us we'll be teaching a class of 30 new-joiners.

On Saturday evening all the faculty headed to downtown Chicago. We went to a restaurant for a meal, a place called Bin36. It was a very interesting place, for starters we were presented with platters of different cheeses from around the world – given the international mix of our group this was a good talking point. After the meal we went ten-pin bowling. I've not done this for years and it was great fun. I performed pretty badly, scoring only 75. At the end of the evening we got a limo back to the training centre, getting in about 1am.

Next week the new joiners will arrive and we will begin teaching. Its an exciting prospect, though a little daunting too. Take a look next week and discover how the teaching goes.

I am Peter Freemantle, a consultant with Accenture based at the London office in the United Kingdom. I have been at Accenture for nearly six years. I work in the Resources Operating Group. Our clients within Resources include energy companies and utility companies. Most of my engagements have been at UK-based utility companies, mainly in the South-East of England. I am aligned to the Technology Workgroup. This is a community of people within Resources who have skills and interest in technology – IT infrastructure, technical architecture, security etc.

I will be writing a blog over the coming weeks to provide an insight to daily life for a consultant within Accenture. I will describe what it is really like to work on a project; how we repeatedly deliver quality solutions and add value to our clients; the daily challenges that I face; and how I manage to maintain a work-life balance.

I have just returned to Accenture having taken an unpaid year long leave of absence. Accenture has several initiatives relating to work-life balance. One of these initiatives allows employees to take up to a year away from the business. Having come to Accenture straight from university I decided after nearly five years that I wanted to change direction for a little while. I took a year off and did a little travelling. I also bought a run-down house just outside London and spent a lot of time renovating it. Doing this was a great experience. I can now do plumbing, painting, carpentry and other DIY activities. I'm pleased to say that my renovation came in under budget, but unfortunately I didn't stick to my schedule and it took a couple of months longer than planned to finish it. All my savings are tied up in the property, so I've just put it on the market to sell.

So, I'm now back at Accenture. A couple of days ago I attended a community event for the Resources Technology Workgroup in the UK. It was good to hook up with colleagues that I'd not seen for a while and to hear about the different technology projects we are currently doing around the UK. I am looking for a new project to work on now that I am back and hopefully meeting some people at this event will lead to me finding a new role. A good dinner was laid on, I was sitting at a table with some quite senior people in our business and they shared their views on how the company is performing.

I just found out today that next week I will be going to Chicago to perform a faculty role at Core Analyst School. This means I'll be teaching the new analysts from around the world that have just joined the company. I will be explaining to them how Accenture does business, and preparing them for their first project. I have never taught before so it will be a learning experience for me too. Be sure to check back soon and find out how I get on in Chicago.