If you're following from last week, you probably expected this to be a post about Personal Power. So did we... But sometimes client projects and client problems give us an opportunity to share insights and experiences in almost real-time.

This week is one of those weeks. In that, the title is fitting: There are always trade-offs.

There will always be trade-offs and compromises required. There is often no ‘perfect’ way to move a project forward, and this includes IT projects. The key is to be able to understand the trade-offs and risks and to consciously manage those risks in whatever path you choose to move forward with.

A case in point is a recent customer project. This was a very large, very high-visibility project that had job implications for directors and vice-presidents in the organization. We were brought in to conduct an external 3^rd party design review prior to launching.

When large projects are being led by IT, especially in the private sector, there are a few standard a...

It’s one of the things we hear a lot from Technical Experts. It’s usually not asked in an introspective way, by the way. It’s usually asked from the perspective that the other person is wrong for not listening to the Technical Expert.

“Why aren’t they listening?” Is usually followed up by “They should be listening to me because I’m ….”

• I’m the expert
• I’m certified on the product
• I’m the manager
• I’m the director
• I’m the architect

If you’ve found yourself in that position, then there’s a good chance you’re not going to like what you read next, but there are 2 things you need to know.

1. If people aren’t listening to you, then it’s because you haven’t figured out how to say things that they find value in
2. You need to know there is a mindset shift you need to make if you want to be heard

The mindset shift supports everything else you need to work on.

Technologists and Technical Experts tend to gravitate towards predictable systems, defined roles, logical progression. Anomalo...