Questions to ask yourself

As I spend the next few days rolling up a lot of analytical customer satisfaction data into a high-level management presentation, here are few questions I'm asking myself:

How is your audience going to use the information you present to them?

What decisions will be made from this information - now and in the future?

Is it enough information or too much information?

What do you want them to do with the information?

What information do you want them to focus on?

Is there a simpler way to present the information that makes it easier to digest?

Building a Business Case

Saul Carliner's article, Build a Business Case for Online Learning Projects , provides a good overview of the components that should be included when building any IT-related business case. The format used should be adapted to your audience, their experience and knowledge level, and their interest in details, but overall content should answer these points.

When Changes are Coming - Communicate!

In Mary K Pratt's Leading Change article in Computerworld, she outlines twelve steps on how to lead change and give us another example of why it is important to communicate. Remember change management doesn't only apply to your technology - but also to your people. Change is scary for most people. The more you communicate what's happening and what to expect, the smoother things will go.

Listening to your Audience

In writing circles, the recommendation is to "Know Your Reader". In training and speaking circles, the feedback is "Know your Audience". Essentially, its all the same. Communication - all communication - is two way. Miscommunication happens when the participants are communicating from their perspective and not LISTENING to the person they want to communicate with. It doesn't matter how articulate you are, or how good of a writer/speaker you are, if you haven't tailored your message to the needs of the reader/audience, effective communication isn't going to happen.

Ask yourself - who is going to read this? What do they really care about? If you don't know - ask! LISTEN to their response. Then go back and think about whether you can meet their needs.

Starting again

When I first began this blog, I had a grand vision of writing crisp, articulate, and cohesive entries with the goal of empowering you to communicate more effectively about technology in this odd world we call business. But based on the feedback I recieved from the first entry, I realized I simply have too much content, too many examples, too many messages to share and discuss - by the time I sequenced them in order and made them all articulate - I'd have a book. So I begin again.

The goals of this blog remain the same - to empower others to communicate more effectively about technology and how it impacts business. But instead of cohesive posts, expect short quips, centered on whatever strikes me that day as being important. I invite you to share in this - to make it a dialog, and share practical experiences or opinions. If you do not wish to use the comment feature, feel free to email me privately.

The first rule in communication - to Communicate!

Blending Business, Technology, and Communication Skills

In the January 3rd issue of Computerworld, twelve Premier 100 IT Leaders shared their advice for getting ahead in the IT field. Consistently two themes were cited:
- integrate your business knowledge with technology skills, and
- improve your communication skills.

Having directly supported the communication needs of two Premier 100 IT Leaders, I know first hand how much truth is in this advice. Everyday, business needs to know that their technologist understand the practical business challenges. Business doesn't need technology per se. Business needs the results that technology can produce. Our job is to communicate what these results are when explaining the technology being proposed or used.