Two teams in your organization have never agreed on what "approved" means. One means legal signed off. The other means the budget holder said yes in a meeting. Nobody wrote it down, and nobody has noticed they disagree.

That's survivable for years — until you build a system, because a system needs a field. Somebody picks one, usually a developer on a Tuesday under deadline, and that person has just made an organizational policy decision.

Technology does not eliminate unresolved operating decisions. It turns them into system behavior.

What's covered

  • The five operating conversations that have to happen before solution design begins — and why the order matters more than it looks
  • Why "we need a new system" is a solution wearing the costume of a requirement
  • If nobody defines success up front, the deliverable becomes satisfaction. And satisfaction is not something you can deliver against.
  • Who owns the operating outcome, as distinct from who owns the software — the second question is easy and the first one usually produces a pause
  • Decision rights in names, not departments. A department has never made a decision.
  • Which local variations actually matter, which are just habit, and who authorizes a new one once you're live
  • How the thing operates after the project team leaves, because every system outlives the person who was excited about it

What came with it