Budgets and Options

As we work on the budget for next fiscal year, I am reminded of the importance of providing options to business partners. This means thinking about the best investment options and weighing them against "good enough" options. You certainly don't want to compromise on choices that require high support costs downstream, even when the choices are less expensive to implement initially.

Often business partners don't understand the nuances between options. It is tempting to explain them in great detail...avoid this if you can, just stick to the basics. High level trade-offs and benefits are all you need. I try and get it down to one page. Much more than that often leads to impatience and misunderstanding. I had a collegue that used to say - "Dont build a rocketship to the moon when all you need is to get around the corner". You get the idea.

When taking a consultative approach and providing options you have a much better chance at building stronger ties with business partners. They will see you as trying to understand and support their business. Taking this type of approach is especially critical when working with business partners that haven't had a lot of exposure to IT. New-to-IT partners often have little exposure to the costs of creating or buying solutions. They also don't think of the downstream support implications of their needs. Be patient, take your time and answer all of their questions.

It is these little things that can make or break a strong partnership.