Tanya Stickford
Solar Engineering, Procurement
and Construction Consulting
My work as a consultant in the solar EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) sector was born out of the need for companies to continuously transform on the inside to meet the constantly changing conditions on the outside, and the recognition that I have a passion and a talent for understanding and transforming systems.
With 10 years of experience working in the solar industry, I know first-hand the necessity of this drive and the hard work it takes to sustain evolution year in and year out. I am leveraging my experience by offering services designed to generate insight, convey best practices, inspire and add capacity to teams working inside EPC companies across the country.
I believe that engaging with an outside expert can accelerate change and transform businesses.
What is in a name?
PhotoNimbus Consulting—to me, the meaning of this name points directly at the heart.
‘NIMBUS’ evokes my role in collaborations. I help businesses bridge the gap between current and desired future states. I consider my presence in a company to be that of the charged particles in a rain cloud (Nimbus). Even if there is enough moisture present, raindrops will not form unless there is a condensation nuclei to help the water particles come together. Once this process starts, large masses of water form and eventually fall to the ground as rain—representing ideas and transformation. It is truly a collaboration and a chemistry that leaves all parties transformed and more than the sum of their parts.
‘CONSULTING’ creates the conditions where information is brought to the fore, evaluated and set in motion. The traditional definition of this word invokes a one-way exchange of knowledge; I view it a little differently. I utilize a range of methods, from informal conversation to formal process-mapping exercises, to bring forth a robust body of information and ideas for collaborating organizations to evaluate. The true value of a consultation comes when those on the inside evaluate (or consult) that body of information, and together we set priorities and chart a course for transformation.
I currently offer three levels of engagement. The most effective approach will depend on the objectives of the collaboration and will be established as we begin working together
Effective crew configuration, metrics for success, work truck design and utilization, workflow onsite and offsite
Project preparedness, scheduling thresholds, backlog predictability and smoothing, communicating with stakeholders, project review
Kitting accuracy, design and layout optimization, inventory management, small parts management, metrics, role development
Development of roles and responsibilities, team growth and optimization, communication strategies and functions, teams and regions, hiring practices
High level metrics, impacts on balance sheet and income statement, strategy and risk considerations
Information gathering, workload balance, upstream and downstream connections, workflow
First-pass yield, install metrics, gross margin reports, direct and indirect expenses, cost stack, cost/benefit analyses
Through focused and open dialogue, I can offer the value of my perspective as filtered through conversation with various stakeholders. This requires the least amount of time but does not offer unfiltered information gathering on my part and thus will not have the benefit of direct experience to draw observations and recommendations. It can be a great tool to give enterprises a quick view and new possible directions for internal teams to focus on. This service can be either over the phone or in person, 1-3 conversations of a few hours each.
This involves being on site where the work is happening, direct exposure to the process and to people at work. This could involve working with the teams at the tasks they are performing or simply being proximal to the activity of interest with conversation access to the people doing the work. From this I pull together observations and recommendations for the teams in the organization to implement, to a large extent without my direct involvement. This is by definition majority on-site work although some of the information processing and sharing can happen remotely. For each major initiative, the majority of the value is achieved in one or two multi-day visits ranging in time from 20-40 hours each.
This refers to more in-depth involvement at a later stage in the process. Direct team engagement goes beyond on-site experience and subsequent recommendations. This modality engages me to work directly with the teams to implement recommendations and manifest sustained change in the organization. This requires complete commitment to the process from all involved, including teams prepared to undergo change and open to deep engagement by an outside presence. This also requires strong alignment between myself and the executive team of the organization. The value of this stage to organizations is to have my ongoing presence and considerable expertise bring focus and energy to the teams. The duration is project dependent, likely to involve 3-5 visits of varying length with substantial offsite follow up.