{"id":103,"date":"2021-04-30T16:21:01","date_gmt":"2021-04-30T23:21:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barrybriggs.com\/blog\/?p=103"},"modified":"2024-12-17T09:55:57","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T17:55:57","slug":"i-learned-about-from-that-the-five-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.barrybriggs.com\/blog\/programming\/i-learned-about-from-that-the-five-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"I Learned about * From That: The Five Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"
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For much of my career\nI functioned as a technical manager in the software industry, ranging from\nleading small development teams to serving as CTO for a division of one of the world\u2019s\nlargest technology firms. In those times I heard a LOT of presentations from\nbright and earnest people with terrific ideas: for new products, for new\nprojects, for new initiatives. (And by the way, I made not a few of these\npitches myself.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a time I noticed a pattern. Many presenters \u2013\nespecially younger ones \u2013 didn\u2019t get this simple truth, that during a\npresentation managers are constantly thinking about two things: one, what\ndecision do I have to make? <\/em>And two, am I getting enough information to\nmake the decision? <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After all, that\u2019s what managers get paid to do: make decisions.\nSo above all else, your job in presenting is to tell \u2013 not hint, tell \u2013 the\nmanager what the decision is. (I hate guessing what it is I\u2019m supposed to\ndecide.) That should be on slide 1 and on the last slide, and maybe sprinkled\nabout the presentation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So: be explicit about the decision: \u201cwe should buy Acme\nIndustries.\u201d \u201cWe should replace this database sooner rather than later.\u201d \u201cWe\nshould hire more people.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now as far as the second part, what sorts of information\nshould you provide your manager? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Answer the Five Questions, and you\u2019re off to a good start. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question One: What is it? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

What are you proposing? Tell your manager precisely <\/em>what\nit is you\u2019re suggesting doing, in as much detail as you think he or she needs\nto make the decision and no more. <\/em>Don\u2019t skimp and (and this happens much\nmore frequently) don\u2019t inundate your manager with details. The more detail you\nhave, the more likely you are to find yourself at the bottom of a rathole with\nno hope of ever emerging. Your manager probably doesn\u2019t need to know the\ndetails of all the error codes returned by this or that API. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Knowing how much information to supply is tricky and depends\nas much on the manager\u2019s personality and interests as upon the merits of the\nproposal (and also, how much time you have: if your meeting is set for one\nhour, don\u2019t waste it all on Question 1). Be smart and disciplined in your presentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s a side tip: maintain control <\/em>of your\npresentation. Your manager may think <\/em>that he or she wants to know all\nthose error codes, or some other details (or someone else in the room may ask).\nTry hard not to go there. Stay focused. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After all, you\u2019ve got four more questions to answer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question Two: Why is it Good?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Why are you suggesting this idea? Why do we need it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specifically, what value will this thing whatever it is\nbring to us, to our organization, and\/or to our company? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will it save us money? Bring us a new revenue stream? Allow\nus to execute on our strategy quicker or more efficiently? Be as quantitative\nas you can: \u201ddeploying this software will save us 20% year over year\nstarting in 2022\u201d <\/em>or \u201cimplementing agile methodology will allow us to\nrespond in days rather than months to new market opportunities.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question Three: Where Does it Fit? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I get it. It\u2019s good. But we\u2019re running a business here and\nwe\u2019ve already got stuff.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where does this idea fit in our ecosystem? If this is a new\nsoftware package, how do we integrate it with the software we already have? Is\nthis replacing something we already have? Or is it something new? (Please,\nplease show me a picture.<\/em>) What do we have to do connect it to what we\u2019ve\nalready got? Does it conform to our enterprise standards and\/or generally how\nwe do things? How much do we have to change our existing stuff to make it\ncompatible with the new thing? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do users use it? What new things will they\/I have to\nlearn? Who\u2019s going to feel left behind? What\u2019s your transition or change\nmanagement plan? Do you anticipate resistance to your project once it starts?\nHow will you handle it? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question Four: How Much is it Going to Cost? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not just the procurement costs, that is, the capital or\noperating expenses I\u2019m going to authorize to be shelled out, although I\ndefinitely need to know that. How many people do I have to assign, and for how\nlong? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And: What am I not <\/em>going to be able to do because I\u2019m\ndoing this? It\u2019s amazing how many projects sound just wonderful in isolation\n<\/em>but then lose some of their luster when stack-ranked against other worthy\nproposals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question Five: When Will It Be Done?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

How long will all this take? Is this a very straightforward,\nwell-bounded project, or is this likely to be one of those projects that goes\non, and on, and on? Make no mistake, I\u2019m going to hold you to this, <\/em>and\nwhile I understand projects slip for good reasons sometimes \u2013 bugs, key people\nquit, dependencies fall through \u2013 I\u2019m expecting you, to the best of your\nability, to make good on your schedule promises. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not just about you. As a manager I have lots of other\nprojects under way, and I may want to know, for example, when the resources\nyou\u2019re using will free up for another project. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

[EDIT]: SteveB’s Question!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

My pal Wes Miller<\/a> reminds me that Steve Ballmer’s favorite question was \u201cIf we build this, how many zeroes does it add to revenue per year?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Easy, Right?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you can answer these five questions, then I guarantee we\u2019ll\nhave a productive conversation \u2013 no guarantee, however, that your proposal will\nbe accepted. But I\u2019ll come away feeling I had enough data to make the decision.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, and \u2026 <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One other thing: if I ask you a question to which you don\u2019t\nknow the answer, just say you don\u2019t know. And \u2013 key point here \u2013 then say you\u2019ll\nfind out. Not knowing is understandable, but you need to always follow up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For much of my career I functioned as a technical manager in the software industry, ranging from leading small development teams to serving as CTO for a division of one of the world\u2019s largest technology firms. In those times I heard a LOT of presentations from bright and earnest people with terrific ideas: for new … <\/p>\n

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