I remember the title as the theme of our annual firm get-together when I was as a young PW consultant. We had a couple of major projects gone bad and the firm's leadership thought it wise to bring a more acute qa focus through out the firm. Back then we were all hunters AND farmers so the message sunk in pretty easily - badly designed sales were worse than no sales.
In today's world of segregated sales from delivery, stories such as those Mike Krigsman reports about IBM's issues in Texas are all too common, especially in multi-year outsourcing. The sales team disappears after the transition period of 3-4 months and re-appears a few years later when the contract renewal is up. In between, the delivery team uses duct tape, grit and heroism to keep the project afloat.
I still see the hunter-farmer blend in many small consulting firms. But it is a fading breed in larger services firms. And part of the reason their delivery quality has steadily slipped.
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