On CIO Talk Network, I have spent years listening to technology leaders explain what a tool or system can do. Some conversations made the business decision easier to understand. Others described the capabilities in detail while leaving the people who would have to use them almost out of the discussion.
The technical detail matters. A team needs to know whether a system can do the job. It also needs to understand what will change in the work around it. Someone has to learn a different process, answer a customer’s question or take responsibility when the result is wrong.
I often ask what people will need to do differently on Monday morning. Now we have to talk about actual work. If we cannot answer, we may be getting ahead of the organization’s ability to use what we are proposing.
I have seen CIOs, CTOs, CISOs and business leaders become more involved when the conversation reaches those responsibilities. A question about a tool becomes a question about who will own the decision and what happens afterward. The person concerned about risk has something to add, as does the person who will have to change the work.
This matters for the seller too. A buyer is trying to work out whether an idea will survive the conditions inside the company. Understanding the difficulty of making it work gives the seller a more useful place to begin than another explanation of the product category.
I want technology conversations to help people make decisions they can carry out. Before the next discussion, name the decision the group needs to make. Then ask who will have to act on it and what those people need to know. If they are missing from the conversation, there is still work to do.