Developing Your Solution and Meeting with Executives
Read Part I – the introduction to this 4 part article, Part II – researching what is going on, and Part III – analyzing the data.
In Part IV we’ll focus on developing the proposed solution and presenting to the executives for approval to implement.
Once you have validated your report and gotten feedback on your potential solutions, delineate a final solution to the problem to share with executives/sponsors. Your solution should include:
- How the problem occurred including root cause(s)
- Your proposed solutions to the problem
- Why it is the best solution to the problem
- How it will resolve the problem
- Cost of implementing (budget needs)
- Stakeholder/end user impact
- Scope impact/impact on original goal/objective of the project
- Timeline for implementation
- Resource needs
- Technology needs
- Potential risks and how they will be managed
- Processes and best practices that should be implemented as part of the solution
During the meeting with the executives/sponsors to get approval to move forward, review the proposal to solve the issue with them covering the key areas above. Have your other options in your back pocket to discuss if needed. Include in your presentation the option to not move forward with the project and the impact that will have. Of course, if the best solution is to end the project – present that to the executives/sponsors following the outline for a solution above.
Your goal at this meeting is not to place blame, rather to share how the issue occurred and how to avoid such issues on future projects. At this meeting, ask for approval to move forward with implementation to resolve the issue as proposed.
