Talking to clients, getting buy-in for things I want to make, looking at metrics, thinking, learning about the product / space / company / etc, assorted engineering stuff that isn't programming (wireframes / specs / tests / demos / docs / etc), writing copy, etc etc.
Time allocation varies greatly depending on the client and what we're working on. I've had engagements where I spent 100% of my time talking and I've had engagements where I spent as-close-to-100%-of-time-as-practical in heads-down going-to-ship-this-project mode. Most engagements fall somewhere between the two extremes, clustered away from heads-down-programming.
Do you have engineers on payroll to whom you can outsource the bulk of the actual programming, or do you have a network of independent contractors that you keep going back to?
I know people who do both, but I do neither. If a code is written for an engagement I'm brought in for, either I write it or a client gets it written by the engineering team. (I work for software companies.)
Time allocation varies greatly depending on the client and what we're working on. I've had engagements where I spent 100% of my time talking and I've had engagements where I spent as-close-to-100%-of-time-as-practical in heads-down going-to-ship-this-project mode. Most engagements fall somewhere between the two extremes, clustered away from heads-down-programming.