---
title: "The Great Consulting Masquerade"
subtitle: "When generalists sabotage technology: a scathing post on the imposture of consulting firms"
date: 2025-08-16
author: JAS
theme: "Consulting"
keywords: ["consulting", "Accenture", "Hertz", "transformation digitale", "échec IT", "tech debt"]
image: https://ik.imagekit.io/l2lkwahet/199A/hertzbug.jpg?updatedAt=1755352025429
audio: 1
slug: the-great-consulting-masquerade
status: published
faq: [{"q":"What is the main argument of the article about consulting firms?","a":"The article argues that many large consulting firms, exemplified by Accenture in the Hertz case, masquerade as technology experts while lacking real technical skills. They rely on jargon, PowerPoint slides, and generalist managers to sell projects, but deliver poor results, such as non-mobile-responsive sites and unmanageable code, while prioritizing their own profitability over client outcomes."},{"q":"What specific failures did Accenture cause in the Hertz project, and what were the financial consequences?","a":"Accenture delivered a website that was not mobile-first despite contract requirements, wrote spaghetti code instead of a reusable foundation, and sold licenses for RAPID technology their teams didn't master, causing months of delays. The project cost Hertz 32 million dollars, and the company lost market shares as a result of the failed digital transformation."},{"q":"Why do consulting firms become more profitable when projects derail, according to the article?","a":"The article describes a three-phase pattern: sales phase involves delusional underestimation of costs, execution relies on hiring under-trained juniors, and crisis leads to overcharging for 'overruns.' This structure means that as projects fail and require more time and resources, the firms can charge more, making the derailment itself a profit driver."},{"q":"What remedies does the article propose to counter the 'consulting masquerade'?","a":"The article suggests the 'Code or Get Out' principle, requiring consultants to demonstrate technical skills, and the 50/30/20 Rule: 50% internal technical experts, 30% real external specialists, and a maximum of 20% consultants. It also recommends trap questions to test technical knowledge and a detoxification checklist, such as requiring technical portfolios and zero PowerPoint before a proof of concept."},{"q":"How can 199A Consulting help an organization frame or execute a digital transformation to avoid the pitfalls described in the article?","a":"199A Consulting, with over 20 years of experience, acts as a trusted partner by providing strategic framing through audits, governance, and risk assessment to expose weaknesses before they become costly failures. On the execution side, we bring hands-on architecture, build, integration, and training, ensuring technical competence and digital sovereignty throughout the project. Contact us at business@199a.agency to secure your transformation against the masquerade."}]
---

## The Great Consulting Masquerade: When Generalists Sabotage Technology
A scathing post on the imposture of consulting firms in digital transformation

**Prologue: The Phantom Expertise Syndrome**
In the air-conditioned universe of glass towers, a self-proclaimed caste dictates its law to companies in digital distress. Their weapons? Glittering PowerPoint slides, jargon as hollow as a watermelon, and arrogance proportional to their technical ignorance.

<div class="border-thick-blue excerptor p-3 w-100 w-md-auto mb-3" style="float: right; width: 80%; margin-left: 1rem; margin-right: -60%; margin-bottom: 1rem; position: relative; overflow: visible;">
<span class="fs-3 text-muted lh-sm"><i>A revolutionary platform for 32 million dollars.</i></span>
</div>

In 2016, Hertz dreams of modernity. Its website? A digital fossil worthy of the Geocities era. Magic solution: Accenture, the "prestigious" firm promising a revolutionary platform for 32 million dollars.

**Chronicle of Disaster: Catalog of Aberrations**
- The Phantom Responsive Design
Accenture delivers a site unusable on mobile. The comic part? The contract specified *"mobile-first"*. When Hertz is surprised, the firm retorts: *"That was in the bonuses, pay more"*.
- The Garbage Code
Contractual requirement: a reusable foundation for all subsidiaries. Delivery: a mess of spaghetti code specific to North America.
- The "RAPID" Technology: The Scam of the Century
Accenture sells expensive licenses for RAPID — a tool that its teams don't master. Result? Months of delay.
- The Myth of the "Superior Generalist"
The firms have implanted a toxic belief: a manager trained at HEC would know better how to architect a system than an engineer with 10 years of experience.

**The more the project derails, the more profitable it is**
1. Sales phase: delusional underestimation of costs
2. Execution: massive hiring of under-trained juniors
3. Crisis: overcharging for "overruns"

Why Do "Experts" Ignore Technology? The Factory of Credentialed Morons
Consultants are recruited on their ability to solve case studies, not a line of code.

Lacking real skills, consultants invent methods:
- "360° Transformation"
- "Next Generation Digital Paradigm"

The Massacre of Internal Teams
In-house developers were dismissed as "old technological carcasses".

### The Economic Slaughter
- 32 million dollars gone
- Lost market shares

<div class="excerptor p-0 p-md-3 w-100 w-md-auto mb-3" style="float: right; width: 80%; margin-left: 1rem; margin-right: -60%; margin-bottom: 1rem; position: relative; overflow: visible;">
<img src="https://ik.imagekit.io/l2lkwahet/199A/hertzbug.jpg?updatedAt=1755352025429" class="img-fluid w-100 d-block rounded shadow">
<span class="badge rounded-pill text-bg-light">32 million dollars gone. Expensive bug.</span>
</div>
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Shock Remedies:
- The "Code or Get Out" Principle. Only authorize consultants who can demonstrate their technical skills.
- The 50/30/20 Rule
-- 50% internal technical experts
-- 30% real external specialists
-- 20% max consultants

**"Those who don't know how to do don't lead those who know."**

### Appendices: The Anti-Consultant Arsenal
1. **Trap Questions**
- "Can you explain how your solution handles CORS?"
- "Show me the API sequence diagram"
- "You're not here tomorrow, how do we manage?"

2. **Detoxification Checklist**
- [ ] No consultant without technical portfolio
- [ ] Zero PowerPoint before POC
- [ ] Methodologies are only useful if you know how to use them

3. **Bibliography of the Awakening**
- *"Bullshit Jobs"* by David Graeber
- *"Refactoring"* by Martin Fowler