How to Talk to IT
For many years I’ve worked with business people to solve their problems with IT solutions. A big obstacle for them is how to tell the IT department what it is they want. Since I originally worked on business side and was in their shoes, I’ve been able to fill in the blanks for them. Allow me to share the approach I take to effectively communicating the business needs to IT.
The Root of the Problem
A lot of the problem stems from the business’s technical know-how. From zero experience to “just enough knowledge to be dangerous”, business people let their limitations get in the way of achieving the most bang for the buck. How exactly does this happen? Well if the person doesn’t know anything, they tend to scale back their requests because they don’t know how much it will cost or if it will work. It’s unknown territory for them and they want to be cautious. At the other extreme, is the person who has some programming knowledge but is not an expert. Since they are not experienced enough to know all the ways a task could be accomplished, they base their requests on their limited view and scale back their requests accordingly. In effect they are trying to program it themselves and the results can be disappointing, falling short to what could have been. In both cases, these people are holding back.
Specifying the Outcome
My advice to these folk is to focus on the desired outcome. Dream. Create a wish list. What do you want the system to do? Now put this into a document. Describe for the Tech team what the database is for. It’s important not to think about “How” this will get done. This is a sign that you are programming! Put on your Genie turban and wish for what you want it to be. Once you’ve thought about it a bit, go to the next stage and create 2 documents. The first is word document, known as a specification, describing the system. Include as much information as seems relevant. Answer these questions:
Purpose: What is the purpose of the system?
Access: How will people access it? (Desktop, Mobile or both.)
Users: How many people will be using the system and how often? Will they have different access levels? Will they log in or can you rely on another login?
Input: How does the data get in the database? Is it all data entry? Do you import data from a file or a 3rd party system?
Output: Are there any outputs the system should generate? For example, a Sales Report, Downloads or an Email.
Out of Scope: List what is NOT included in the system.
Wireframes
The second document is an Excel spreadsheet with mockups of what the screens will look like. The goal here is to list the data you want to capture. The act of mocking up screens will help you make sure you didn’t miss anything. At this point, you don’t need to think about the cosmetics. You only want to focus on the data elements to that the IT folks can review and comment. This can be accomplished using a combination of these 4 types of screens.
Login: This is the login screens users will go to if necessary. Will this be based on Email or Username? Will there be a “Forgot My Password” link?
Dashboard: This is Home screen once a User logs in. It should contain high level summary information from the System. For example, if the database is a Sales Database, this screen might have a bar chart of sales over the last year or a grid listing sales by Division.
List: This screen is used to navigate around the system and lists records from Tables in the database. A good example is a Client List screen. All the Clients are listed and you may include Search boxes at the top of the screen so that you can find Clients more easily.
Detail Record: This screen is where you View and Edit information in the Database. A Client Record is a good example. You would edit the Clients Name, Address and Phone Number. If there is information.
Better Outcomes
As a business person, doing any of this advance work will result in better outcomes from your IT Team. Putting documents together creates a common framework for discussion and limits misunderstandings. Only you know your business. You can do a lot of this on your own! If you find that you need some assistance or just don’t want to do it yourself, maybe we can help. Reach out for a free consultation.