How to Deal With “It’s Not Possible”
Inevitably when you’re building a technology product, you’re going to have a run-in with your development team where they defiantly tell you “Um, that’s not possible!”
Developers are generally a conservative bunch, not because they’re trying to be difficult (necessarily), but because their mind can quickly imagine the 500 things that must happen in order to get to the destination you’re after, and they know that the road between here and there is littered with landmines.
How do you get past this initial reaction and work productively to achieve the results the business needs?
Don’t Get Combative
The big mistake many business people make in dealing with developers is to make it a competition about the minutia. The very nature of software development is one of understanding details, and you’ll almost never win an argument about the actual work to be done. By saying “This is how it has to be”, dropping the mic and leaving the room, you’re likely to violate any level of trust and goodwill previously built.
Instead, present the need in the context of the business and give the team time to think creatively about the business problem. Developers are very often left out of business meetings, and therefore have no sensitivity to business impact. Once they’ve proposed some options, you now have a starting point for getting to a decision.
Dig In on the Details
You don’t have to understand the actual mechanics of software development in order to have a substantive discussion about how estimates are being formed. Once you’ve heard from the team, your role is to start asking questions:
- “Is the business requirement here clear?”
- “Tell me about how you got to that conclusion”
- “What are the hardest problems to solve, and what are our options?”
- “Is there another way to solve that?”
- “What if we didn’t do X. Would that help?”
It’s remarkable how effective simply asking questions in a professional, courteous manner will help developers re-think strongly held positions and often get them to re-orient on a new path to the goal.
Be Human
Once you’ve gotten to agreement on what needs to be done, let the development team know that you’re on their side. “I know this is going to be a stretch, but I believe we’ve got the team to pull it off. If there’s ANYTHING you need from me or another part of the company, I want you to come to me directly.”
If developers believe that you actually care about them as people, the good ones will always rise to a challenge and deliver something they didn’t believe to be possible. The beautiful thing is that once they’ve done this a few times, the response of “That’s not possible” will be gone and it will become “Let’s figure out how to get this done.”
Just Remember
Achieving the seemingly impossible is what makes the difference between winning and losing in most every company. By not creating a combative environment, being willing to discuss the details of the initiative, and treating the team like humans, you’ll show the team that they’re an integral part of the company’s success, and they’ll go above and beyond the call of duty.
Your Assignment
Schedule a meeting with your entire development team and ask them two simple questions:
- “What do you not know about the business that you’d like to?”
- “Are we doing a good job of communicating how the work you’re doing fits into our overall plans?”
You’ll be surprised by the answers to both questions, almost guaranteed.