Comments on: The Art of Why http://rocketpanther.com/ciostage/leadership/the-art-of-why Just another WordPress site Thu, 06 Nov 2014 02:53:00 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.41 By: Abbie Lundberg http://rocketpanther.com/ciostage/leadership/the-art-of-why#comment-247 Mon, 08 Jun 2009 11:51:25 +0000 http://www.ciodashboard.com/?p=528#comment-247 I can think of dozens of meetings that should have been “why” conversations but that instead turned into “how” expositions or sometimes debates. My experience has been that IT people, in general, are fantastic problem solvers, but problem definition doesn’t come as easily. It will have to be a very explicit exercise to change that. I also really like the way you tie means of communication to type. Form and function. Thanks for the great post.

]]> By: Abbie Lundberg http://rocketpanther.com/ciostage/leadership/the-art-of-why#comment-251 Mon, 08 Jun 2009 11:51:00 +0000 http://www.ciodashboard.com/?p=528#comment-251 I can think of dozens of meetings that should have been “why” conversations but that instead turned into “how” expositions or sometimes debates. My experience has been that IT people, in general, are fantastic problem solvers, but problem definition doesn’t come as easily. It will have to be a very explicit exercise to change that. I also really like the way you tie means of communication to type. Form and function. Thanks for the great post.

]]> By: Lui Sieh http://rocketpanther.com/ciostage/leadership/the-art-of-why#comment-246 Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:56:04 +0000 http://www.ciodashboard.com/?p=528#comment-246 Hi there,

Came across your blog through “A CIO’s Voice”. Thanks for writing this – you really hit some great points on the importance of “why”. I’m trying to teach this to the younger guys but is still a very good reminder for the experienced folks.

“Why” questions are excellent for facilitating difficult discussions between the “business” and “IT”. It can help diffuse potentially tricky situations where a lot of education is required. Getting people on the same page with good questions before then getting into the “How” makes one a more effective IT person.

Cheers,

]]> By: Lui Sieh http://rocketpanther.com/ciostage/leadership/the-art-of-why#comment-250 Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:56:00 +0000 http://www.ciodashboard.com/?p=528#comment-250 Hi there,

Came across your blog through “A CIO’s Voice”. Thanks for writing this – you really hit some great points on the importance of “why”. I’m trying to teach this to the younger guys but is still a very good reminder for the experienced folks.

“Why” questions are excellent for facilitating difficult discussions between the “business” and “IT”. It can help diffuse potentially tricky situations where a lot of education is required. Getting people on the same page with good questions before then getting into the “How” makes one a more effective IT person.

Cheers,

]]> By: Mike Maddaloni - The Hot Iron http://rocketpanther.com/ciostage/leadership/the-art-of-why#comment-245 Wed, 03 Jun 2009 05:34:31 +0000 http://www.ciodashboard.com/?p=528#comment-245 When I read this, the first thing that came to mind was, “do the people in IT care why?” When I worked for large and small firms – even a dot-com – over my career, most people in IT didn’t care why, they were more concerned with how much time was needed to code a solution or server load or the other things that IT are supposed to think about.

It was only when I tried to bring in end-users, marketing and other departments in with IT did I ever hear the question, “why?” as they didn’t want to know why, they just wanted to know what to do.

Granted this was a cultural issue, but IT was not the only one to blame. Other departments felt it was their role to just tell IT what was needed, and IT was never given an opportunity to respond. Then throw myself into the mix, a self-proclaimed generalist, and people got all up in arms. But in the end, there would be a better solution provided.

I completely agree – it is an art-form to bring different disciplines together, and one that needs to be performed more!

mp/m

]]> By: Mike Maddaloni - The Hot Iron http://rocketpanther.com/ciostage/leadership/the-art-of-why#comment-249 Wed, 03 Jun 2009 05:34:00 +0000 http://www.ciodashboard.com/?p=528#comment-249 When I read this, the first thing that came to mind was, “do the people in IT care why?” When I worked for large and small firms – even a dot-com – over my career, most people in IT didn’t care why, they were more concerned with how much time was needed to code a solution or server load or the other things that IT are supposed to think about.

It was only when I tried to bring in end-users, marketing and other departments in with IT did I ever hear the question, “why?” as they didn’t want to know why, they just wanted to know what to do.

Granted this was a cultural issue, but IT was not the only one to blame. Other departments felt it was their role to just tell IT what was needed, and IT was never given an opportunity to respond. Then throw myself into the mix, a self-proclaimed generalist, and people got all up in arms. But in the end, there would be a better solution provided.

I completely agree – it is an art-form to bring different disciplines together, and one that needs to be performed more!

mp/m

]]> By: Ivo http://rocketpanther.com/ciostage/leadership/the-art-of-why#comment-244 Wed, 03 Jun 2009 05:32:31 +0000 http://www.ciodashboard.com/?p=528#comment-244 I fully support the point you are making. However, the “boxes and arrows” can be friends to the why-approach. I’ve shared some ideas in this direction here: http://www.via-nova-architectura.org/magazine/magazine/cohesion-of-enterprise-models.html

Regards

Ivo

]]> By: Ivo http://rocketpanther.com/ciostage/leadership/the-art-of-why#comment-248 Wed, 03 Jun 2009 05:32:00 +0000 http://www.ciodashboard.com/?p=528#comment-248 I fully support the point you are making. However, the “boxes and arrows” can be friends to the why-approach. I’ve shared some ideas in this direction here: http://www.via-nova-architectura.org/magazine/magazine/cohesion-of-enterprise-models.html

Regards

Ivo

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