From: "McKown, John" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Around here if it
cannot be shown to actually save "hard" dollars, it is unlikely to be
"bought into" by management.
I sympathize, I really do. I've encountered management like that before, and
unfortunately they seem to be becoming more and more commonplace. In my
experience, you have to sit them down and talk to them very gently to make
them understand how buying something can actually save money. For example, a
conversation might go like this:
YOU: I'd like permission to buy a new software tool that upgrades the
ISPF/PDF interface.
BOSS: How much does it cost?
YOU: $5,000.
BOSS: What's wrong with the interface we have now?
YOU: It's slow, cumbersome, difficult to learn and use, and very
unproductive.
BOSS: But it works though, right? I'm sorry, but if what we've got works
then we don't need to spend money to buy something extra.
YOU: But with 100 developers using it, it would save our company more than a
million dollars a year. Isn't it worth spending $5,000 to save a million?
BOSS: Maybe so, but the budget is tight right now. Where would we get $5,000
from?
YOU: We're planning to hire 500 new people for the call center, and each of
them will have a PC on their desk. If we don't buy them a mouse, it will
save more than $5,000.
BOSS: But a mouse is critical; you can't use a PC without a mouse!
YOU: Actually, you can. It's hard, and it takes some training, but it can be
done.
BOSS: But wouldn't productivity go down?
YOU: Yes, I'm afraid it would.
BOSS: Well that's no good. If each call takes longer to deal with than it
needs to, it will end up costing us money, not saving money.
YOU: Wow, you're smart. You're saying that spending a little bit of extra
money to improve productivity saves even more money in the long run!
BOSS: Yes, exactly. That's why I'm the boss.
YOU: Wow, I see what you mean. So, would it make sense to spend $5,000 to
upgrade the ISPF interface and save the company a million dollars a year?
BOSS: Of course it would. And $5,000 is so low I can spend it without even
having to go further up the chain to get approval.
YOU: Wow boss, thanks. You're the best!
Feel free to print this and use it when you go in to ask your boss for
$5,000. :-)
Dave Salt
SimpList(tm) - The easiest, most powerful way to surf a mainframe!
http://www.mackinney.com/products/SIM/simplist.htm
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