You are previewing premium content. Become an Insider to read the full article.

Talking to the business: Our problems, their visions

For IT, problems are our life's work, but business people want to avoid them at all costs

The first meeting for a project is a tense affair. There can be a lot of new things coming at you all at once. New co-workers. New technology. New processes. And, perhaps most problematic, new business partners.

These meetings tend to follow predictable patterns. You, the technical person, want to stick to a process, gathering basic requirements that can be put into a document. So you ask some questions about what's going on with the business and what problems need to be solved.

[ Discover what's new in business applications with InfoWorld's Technology: Applications newsletter. | Stay abreast of key Microsoft technologies in our Technology: Microsoft newsletter. ]