Foolestroupe -

The problem is "how do you find a qualified professional?".

Expert: someone who says convincingly that he/she knows more than someone who has enough money to hire him/her.

Professional: someone who convinces someone with money to pay him/her to do something.

Consultant: someone who convinces someone with money that his idea is better than the idea the other professional (and possibly the expert) had.

Note the complete absence of any reference to ability to define the requirements of a job and get the job done in all of the above "working definitions."

Sometimes it's sufficent to have a working B.S. detector, and if you're really sharp at this you don't necessarily have to know how the job whould be done. Persons with administrative positions (i.e. who can write the check) seem not generally to possess this faculty.

Often it's necessary to have some ideas about what constitutes a good piece of work in order to be able to detect the B.S. so that you can hire an appropriate pro.

And see Jim Dixon 08 May 06 - 07:39 PM for results of a "professional job." It does happen far too often.

John