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Playbook · Strategy and influence · 7 steps
Presenting to executives
Translate architecture into the language of value, risk, and time.
“I have made this one longer only because I did not have the leisure to make it shorter.”
- 1The Architect ElevatorRide to the penthouse: drop the engine-room detail and keep only what changes their decision.Ride between the penthouse and the engine room: connect business strategy with technical reality.Open
- 2Relativity (Stakeholder Frames)Frame the decision around the audience's concerns, not your diagrams.Every observer sees the system from their own frame; none of them sees the whole truth.Open
- 3The Pyramid PrincipleOpen with the recommendation in one sentence; the supporting detail comes after.Start with the answer, then give the few reasons that support it, then the evidence for each.Open
- 4Cost of DelayWhat does each month without this cost the business?Quantify what it costs not to have something yet, then prioritise by value lost per unit of time.Open
- 5Technical Debt as InterestExplain the interest being paid, not just the size of the debt.Shortcuts are loans: they buy speed today and charge interest on every future change.Open
- 6Total Cost of OwnershipShow lifetime cost, including people and exit.The purchase price is the smallest part of what a technology costs over its lifetime.Open
- 7Goodhart's LawPropose success measures that can't be gamed into meaninglessness.When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.Open