This week's tip comes from Sven Gerjets, chief technology officer at Pearson. Gerjets offers advice on how to move your IT organization beyond the department of "No."
"If you are involved in a business or personal partnership, you have to be able to say no sometimes or the relationship doesn’t stand much of a chance. On the other hand, saying no all the time can give you a bad reputation, and cause those higher up to revoke your right to say no, also a bad outcome.
But what does no really mean? In IT, it’s too easy to hear no as “Never.” Listen more closely and you’re more likely to hear IT saying, “No, I can’t get that done tomorrow, but I can get it done next quarter” or “No, I can’t do that for free, it’s going to cost $200,000” or even “No, our architecture won’t allow that, at least right now.” It’s key to understand not just what is being asked for, but more importantly why, so you can partner on determining how and when."
Read more about how to move IT beyond the department of "No."
