Just the other day I had the opportunity to attend a design meeting. It was one of the first design meetings to take place for this specific project. The group of bright eyed excited people around the table were in that mindset where everything is possible.

However, I was not in that positive happy-go-lucky mindset and it was a bad idea for me to take part in the meeting. However, I did anyway because the invitation was unexpected and I had never met most of those in attendance. It was one of those things where your damned if you do and damned if you don't.

My problem... I'm burnt out and seriously need a vacation. How do I know? I find it very hard to get past the details and think about the big picture.

This became very clear to me when after hearing ideas from people at this meeting details of the implementation of certain idea would come flooding into my brain. Unfortunately for me I found it necessary to share these thoughts. Soon it became clear that I was the wet blanket at the party and I was leaving a very negative impression on those around me.

One thing I have learned since I've been working in IT is technical talk it good with other technical folks but not so good around business people. They tend to roll their eyes and yawn at you when you try. I used to work with a CIO who could cut through the crap like no other. She would listen to us technical people talk and at a certain point we would start repeating ourselves. She would immediately jump in a say something like "OK... just tell me how long each idea will take and what it will cost."

That is my takeaway. When it really comes down to it just about every idea a businessperson comes up with we can be solved with technology. It all comes down to time and money. I come up with the numbers and they, the business people, decide whether it is worth it. They shouldn't care about the technical details after that and unless they ask me I shouldn't waste my time explaining those details.

Stay positive when an idea a businessperson comes up with will involve some time consuming and complex technical solution. Go away and come back with what it will take to do. Let them decide if it is worth it because they are normally the ones controlling the money. I enjoy solving problems that involve time consuming and complex solution anyway. ;-)