Tom Breur
14 February 2016
Business alignment greases
the wheels between IT and corporate counterparts. So obvious, yet often so very
hard to attain. Although I have no silver bullet, I have found one very simple,
extremely powerful questions to help me sharpen and aim the arrow of my
efforts: “How will this be of value to
you?”
Picture this scenario: you
get some request, it seems (!!) pretty obvious why a particular feature is
needed, but already I made an assumption there and then. That I know how it
will be used. And why. But do I? Really?
Open-ended questions –
like those starting with how, why etc. – have this interesting property that
they foster people’s willingness to talk and elaborate (at least if I can keep
my mouth shut for long enough!). I’ve always felt that open questions are a bit
like hitting the gas when you’re driving, and closed questions are like hitting
the brakes (the latter may be useful in some conversations, too!). I am
committed to making my best effort count. So it always helps to know, to better
understand, why and how my output will be of value to my partners. Why not
“just” ask openly?
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