Embrace the non-billable monster

In 1789 Benjamin Franklin wrote “…. in this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes”. In the Professional Services world, I would probably add that at some point, you will carry out non-billable work. Non-billable work can come in many guises. It can range from straightforward project overrun to giving away days as a gesture of goodwill after a previous issue, or a joint venture project where a concession is made.

Understandably, consultants are often not keen on non-billable work. They fear it will make them and/or their team look bad and in the worst-case scenario, it can directly affect bonuses.

I’ve encountered consultants over the years who’ve asked me if they should hold back some days because they “are likely to run out before the end of the project” or let me know that while they were working on a customer project all week, “would I like them to book some of the time to internal work because it’s taking longer than expected?”.

My answer is always the same. It is far better to accurately record the time spent and book to a non-billable timecode, if necessary. Otherwise, how will we learn? In the common case of project overrun; by fully embracing non-billable work, we have the opportunity to focus on lessons learned and improve next time, either by becoming more efficient or creating a more accurate estimate.

Non-billable work is an opportunity to learn, not a monster to fear.