He said WHAT?!?! - How to Effectively Manage Communications Between Technical and Non-Technical Professionals

Effective communication between technical and business professionals is one of the most critical - and elusive - skills to master.  It is particularly imperative as you work with your internal clients to establish business priorities and develop a portfolio of projects and programs that properly aligns to those business objectives.  As experienced IT professionals, we’ve all been there at one time or another.  One of your IT resources makes an offhand comment to your business counterpart that is misinterpreted and results in an angry email/phone call to you.  You receive a caustic email from an IT resource with senior executives copied in on the conversation.  What began as a high-level discussion of functional requirements turns into a long-winded, techno-jargon-laced discussion of coding specifications and screen flows.

While the instinctive reaction of some is to keep technical personnel as far away from the business as humanly possible, this is not a realistic solution over the long term because you are only delaying the inevitable.  IT and business personnel must be able to work together to establish business priorities and identify tactical and strategic projects that align properly and are in full support of these established priorities.  To do this, IT leaders must share the following key principles with team members in order to avoid communication gaffes and, ultimately, help set a strategic direction for the future:

1. Don’t air your dirty laundry

By no means am I suggesting that you keep secrets from your internal clients.  However, as a general rule, internal IT problems that have no bearing on the business and serve only to cast doubt on your ability to get the job done should be kept within the team/department and dealt with appropriately.  Team personality conflict, for example, has no business in a meeting with your business clients.  Similarly, avoid gossip, rumor, and speculation - to be safe, stick with the facts.

2. Draw the line

Drawing the line between “professional” and “personal” can be particularly difficult as oftentimes friendships develop between coworkers in the office.  However, it is best to clearly separate business from personal, especially in written (e-mail) communication.  One rule of thumb is to presume that your email is being sent to the Chief Executive of your company.  Does it convey the right tone?  Is there any ambiguity or room for misinterpretation of the message?  Does the wording of the message convey professionalism and tact?  If not, you need to consider rewriting the message, or even having someone else review the message.  Just because the CEO was not in the original distribution list, he/she could at one point be a recipient of the message (intentionally or otherwise).

3. Start from the top

Too often, technical-minded individuals are prone to begin with the end in mind - jumping waist-deep into the gory details.  After all, in doing so they are demonstrating their knowledge of the subject matter and speaking from a position of comfort and familiarity.  However, too much is often simply that - TOO MUCH.  By starting with the details, you run the risk of losing your audience, running out of time or otherwise not being able to clearly communicate your message.  Begin by providing a high-level overview of the subject matter - just enough to convey your message.  Additionally, by starting simple you are demonstrating that you are respectful of your audience’s valuable time.  You should have ample opportunity to delve into details as your audience demands.

4. Tell him to step away from the keyboard

Before he sends that angry response to the most ridiculous question he’s ever been asked, urge your teammate to STOP.  While the capability does exist, the “recall” function on your email system generally does not work, and I certainly wouldn’t rely on it.  Instead, recommend that he compose the email, save it to draft, and leave it alone.  When the emotions subside, go back and re-read the message.  Quite often he will find that, with a bit of revision, a much more objective response can be crafted that will convey  composure and professionalism.  While it might feel better to vent, doing so can have lasting negative effects on your relationship with the customer.

In the end, we are all human.  We are not perfect.  Sometimes we will have to work with our clients to resolve conflict, clarify misunderstandings or otherwise clear up communication mistakes.  However, by following these tips we can keep the drama to a minimum, allowing us to focus our efforts on solving customer problems and adding technical/strategic value to the organization.

Rob Vick, a Principal with Amplio Consultants, brings strong leadership, communications and relationship management skills as a proven leader in the telecommunications and healthcare industries.  Rob has a solid track record of forging relationships with his clients; building, implementing and supporting solutions that exceed client expectations; and engineering and deploying process improvements that reduce bottom-line costs, improve employee productivity and increase shareholder value.

New IT Dashboard from Federal CIO Vivek Kundra

The Federal government’s new CIO, Vivek Kundra, launched a Federal IT Dashboard today. It is a good tool to first in understanding where the money is going. It looks like about $74B is going toward IT investments, and it is not  surprinsing to see that the DOD gets close to half that spend (45%).

My first impression of the site was that it had a sleek look and a nice feature of automatically advancing through the information, but I got a bit puzzled about the information I was actually looking at. After years of designing IT dashboards I can say that graphics without numbers and labels may look cleaner, but they don’t tell you much.  By digging a little deeper on the site we can find the details on how the evaluations are performed, but it would be nice to make it more obvious on the home page. Here is how the evaluations are made:

The evaluations are split between Cost, Schedule and Agency CIO Evaluations. Cost evaluations are done using a point system. At the top of the scale, less than 5% variance from planned is 10 points and at the bottom, 50% or greater is zero. Schedule evaluations also use a point system where up to 30 days late is 10 points and 90 or more days late  is zero. For the CIO evaluation, the factors are:

• Risk Management
• Requirements Management
• Contractor Oversight
• Historical Performance
• Human Capital
• Other (factors that the CIO deems important to forecasting future success)

Each factor is evaluated using the following rating:

This information, which I refer to as Portfolio Health Management in my first blog, is not only critical, but a key project portfolio management practice. But does it deserve the front page of the federal IT dashboard? As I mentioned in my first paragraph, one of the key benefits is to see how much is spent where. I would prefer to see on the right side the type of projects funded by each agency (spending categories) like IT Security, Infrastructure, Informational, Efficiency, etc. It would also be nice to see the total budget for each agency as well as how much has been allocated, how much is in progress, how much has been spent on canceled projects, how much is completed successfully, etc.

Finally, for a deeper dive, I look forward to seeing the upcoming features stated on the website. More analytics through the Earned Value Management (EVM) approach where applicable will be very beneficial. Using the PMI terminology, the Cost Performance Index (CPI) and the Schedule Performance Index (SPI) would especially be more telling than a simple green, yellow, or red indicator. I’m also eager to see how flexible the ”Participation” features will be:

• Additional chart customization features
• Agency-generated content such as widgets or mash-ups using IT Dashboard data
• Personal portfolios (create your own portfolio of investments to watch and subscribe to updates to these investments)

Overall, I think this is major progress in the right direction for a transparent federal government, but a dangerous tool if misunderstood by the viewers.