How soon can I have it?

I wanted to share a pearl of wisdom, especially with the younger guys/girls in the beginning of their IT career. Executives are notorious for asking things like “When can I have it?” or “How long will it take to implement?”, especially when presented with a good idea. What may seem like a casual question, when answered can become something far more insidious. It is somewhat of an art to avoid answering this question and potentially leaving yourself in a bad situation, yet leaving them satisfied with your response.

• Choose the right time to present:  I have always been a creative guy, and come up with a lot of ideas on how to do things better or faster.  Many times I have made the mistake of discussing them in their early phases with people who not only like the idea, but demand an implementation timeline.  Be very careful about presenting ideas that are in their “incubation” phase.  If you do decide to present them, make sure you preface the conversation with the fact that it is just a concept at this point and you have not given any time to think about development effort or time lines.
• Understand the audience: Most executives are not purposely trying to put you on the spot or coerce you into an unrealistic time line.  In the upper levels of management, what matters most is what gets done by one’s subordinates, not what one can do themselves.  So your concept is one more thing that will make them look good.  Underscoring this is typically a huge lack of understanding about the technical complexity involved in IT projects.  Let’s face it, technology changes so fast that even if one comes from a technical background, most are still virtually clueless when discussing the technology-du-jour.  That mainframe experience doesn’t mean a lot when talking about N-tier applications with multiple data sources and web services glueing everything together.
• Know when to say no:  When you present something, you should anticipate these types of questions being asked.  You either need to have given thought to a valid estimate, or be prepared to explain why you cannot give an estimate at this time.  Don’t go in unprepared, and do not be cavalier and venture a guess!  If you do not have an estimate, you have to tactfully explain that without further analysis anything you say would be a wild guess and you would have better luck playing pick-up-sticks with your butt cheeks than actually hitting the deadline.  Properly presented, most executives will appreciate your candor and respect your opinion.
• Fight for time to do proper analysis:  Sometimes you will have no choice but to present an idea that hasn’t evolved to the point of doing real analysis.  This can be due to a variety of reasons:  opportune timing, getting funding on annual budget, annual project planning roadmaps, etc.  In these situations, the burden is on you to explain (without the mind-numbing technical detail) that there is no way in hell you can even proffer a guess-timate without doing more analysis.  If possible, point to other over-time or over-budget projects in recent history and explain that they occurred because of insufficient/improper analysis.

In summary, it is often tough to avoid giving an ad-hoc estimate.  The best idea is don’t put yourself in a position where you are forced to do so.  If, however, you are in this position, do your best not to give an off-the-cuff estimate as this could turn into a hard deadline as soon as the meeting is over!  No lie, I have had it happen where 30 minutes later a congregation approaches my desk to discuss my new deliverable!  Do not let yourself get cornered into an unrealistic deadline.  Over time, your executives and peers will value your discretion and appreciate the fact that you are not going to guess.  Delivering reliably and consistently is far more valuable in the long run.