3.10 Submit to Technology Review Board If Required

< Day Day Up >

You may not think there is a formal review process in your company, but there may be de facto ones. I have seen them embedded in budget or funding reviews, where an architect on the chief technology officer's staff shows up asking questions with the intransigent air of a department of motor vehicles clerk. I have also known product managers who tell you that, as of last week, your specified server or software technology has moved onto the corporate "endangered species" list, and thus requires signoff from someone who is on maternity leave in Nepal and cannot be reached for some time. In other words, weighty objections to your design can come out of left field at the very last moment.

Again, the timing of exposing your design to public scrutiny can be tricky. Some projects shoot straight down the middle in terms of technologies, but for some reason I end up on projects where new ground is broken. Once your design sees the light of day, it is possible that procurement, vendor management, product management, data center operations, network management, help desk, and accounting will be looking for you to justify selected technologies. ^[3] If this surveillance occurs too early, it can put a damper on the creative process. If done at the last minute, however, you are much more vulnerable to the tendency of such arbiters to object to, if not forbid, certain design characteristics.

The best approach is to invite representatives of these groups to join your project at startup. Copy them on minutes, and share emerging design documentation with them. If you make them feel as if they are a part of the team, they are more likely to forewarn you of possible compliance issues. Further, you would look to them to run interference with their supervisors in the event that you start drifting out of spec. Be prepared to rationalize technology choices in a way that benefits the corporation. I have seen temper tantrums work in this regard, but sooner or later that approach backfires, so be prepared to do battle with as many good thoughts and supporters as you can muster. If you have maneuvered beneficiaries into a similar alignment, they can lend muscle in this regard as well. Instead of panicking, remember that the objections you face might be political, bureaucratic, or simply one more instance of a person in power flexing his or her muscles. In other words, their motive may have nothing to do with the technical or business-oriented merits of your technology decisions.

^[3]And/or brands.

< Day Day Up >