"At the big firms, you get moved around like a chess piece on a board." This quote from a Financial Times article stuck with me as I reflected on some of the larger boutique consultancies I’ve worked with.
For many, utilisation is treated as the ultimate metric—the defining measure of efficiency, health, and performance. But here’s the thing: utilisation may matter, but it’s not the end game. An obsessive focus on utilisation can do more harm than good for boutique consultancies.
In this article, I’ll explain why.
Let me start with a story.
I once worked with a mid-sized, owner-led tech consultancy—50 consultants on the payroll and two hands-on partners. During our first strategy session, the conversation quickly turned to utilisation and billable hours.
It was a red flag.
Why? Their service offering was all over the place. They were chasing revenue with a patchwork pipeline of random projects, taking on whatever work came their way just to keep people busy.
The pressure to maintain utilisation led them to focus on inputs—hours billed—rather than outcomes, like value delivered.
The result?
Here’s the problem with utilisation: it’s a measure of how busy you are, not how successful you are. When your pipeline of potential projects outweighs your consultancy firm's current capacity to execute—a common scenario for fast-growing boutique consultancies—chasing utilisation is like trying to empty a flooded basement with a teaspoon.
Utilisation became irrelevant because we were blessed with more opportunities than resources. The real question wasn’t “Are we busy?” but “Are we using our limited capacity to accept the right opportunities?”
When utilisation is a consultancy’ North Star:
The opportunity isn’t in doing more. It’s in doing the right work—work that builds the consultancy’s reputation, deepens client trust, and commands premium fees.
Recommended reading: How a Boutique Consultancy Can Escape the Toxic Chasing of New Clients
Utilisation is a helpful tool for understanding resource allocation and efficiency, but its value depends on a solid foundation. For boutique consultancies, this starts with a clear value proposition—defining the unique problems solved, outcomes delivered, and differentiation from competitors.
A well-defined value proposition guides service design, which structures offerings and delivery processes to meet client needs. However, service design alone is not enough. For utilisation to be meaningful, services must first be validated—proven through repetition to deliver value reliably—and matured, with processes refined over time to maximise efficiency and impact.
Only when services are validated and matured can utilisation become a refinement tool. At this stage, it helps to:
Without these foundations, utilisation risks driving inefficiency and misalignment. But when grounded in a sharp value proposition and robust service design, it provides insights to fine-tune operations and enhance performance.
Focusing on utilisation without a robust service design leads to a series of negative outcomes:
Contrast this with a consultancy built on intentional service design. Instead of chasing hours, they’re pursuing impactful, profitable work. Their team is energised, their clients are loyal, and their reputation grows stronger with every project.
Recommended reading: The One Boutique Consultancy Metric That Tells It All
Utilisation may be the sacred cow of consulting metrics, but it’s time to question its worth. A relentless focus on keeping the team busy risks creating a hamster wheel of burnout, inefficiency, and diluted impact.
The starting point for a resilient, high-performing consultancy lies in a sharp, well-defined value proposition. This clarity ensures the consultancy solves meaningful problems, delivers measurable outcomes, and stands out in the market.
With this foundation in place, service design then structures how these services are delivered, ensuring consistency, scalability, and alignment with client needs.
When services are validated through repetition and matured over time, utilisation can evolve into a refinement tool—helping to identify bottlenecks, optimise efficiency, and strategically allocate capacity to high-value work.
Here’s what I learned in the consulting trenches in the past decade: Success in boutique consulting isn’t measured by how busy the team is but by the value created with every hour. A strong value proposition, supported by intentional service design, transforms utilisation from a survival metric into a lever for refinement and operational excellence.
A consultancy measured by busyness isn’t built to last.
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