Sell Me On The Tech

I was in final meetings with architects in a government department.

We’d been heads down for weeks understanding how we could help them. We’d been working through all the micro detail. Demos, deep technical reviews, integrations, delivery model. The kind of people who get excited when talking about the different approaches to devops.

Unexpectedly the CIO came into the room.

He asked a pointed question: Sell me on the tech. I hesitated because the group I was with had me on autopilot. I mentally started prioritising a bunch of features and functions. Then I looked at the CIO and quickly realised. He’s been doing this before I could ride a bike. He’s probably seen every technology trend and phase. He couldn’t care less about what a button did.

A CIO gets sold every day. Countless pitches, countless review boards. He didn’t need me to walk through the spec sheet. He pays these guys to get that done. I realised in that moment - he’s looking for two simple answers: how does this help me, and how does it move where I’m taking this.

I pivoted quickly.

I talked about the outcomes and our way to solve the current pains which his team has diligently articulated. I spoke about the importance of looking at this as a priority this financial year instead of putting into a budget later. He thanked me and left the room. A few days later I got the green light to start procurement and negotiations.

The higher the room, the less the detail is yours. Up there, you don’t buy the how. You buy the where-to.