It is amazing. You set up a meeting or you are invited to a meeting with a bunch of IT folks. The ratio is one to 5 (to as many as 10). Everyone goes around the room to introduce themselves. What you hear is name, title and maybe project.
When you are invited to a meeting of this sort, interrupt the introductions. Tell them to say their name and what value are they to you!
I’ve been part of so many meeting where the business folks are introduced to all these strange people with even stranger titles that mean nothing to you. The projects, if mentioned, are mentioned in acroynms. They ask you a bunch of questions (because they need information from you) but you have no context.
Who are all these people and why are they asking me all these weird questions?
A title is meaningless. Insist on a name, telephone number, email address and what will they do for you. You need to identify:
- who will answer your questions
- who do you call when you have a problem
- who is the one person for you to contact with information
Let’s face it, you are busy making money for the company. Make sure you are interfacing with the right people that can help you. Make sure that you are providing information to one person in IT. Let him distribute the information to the right people.
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