When an option isn’t an option.

Willy Loman* was a man with an option. He knew that whenever he needed a job, all he had to do was ask and he’d get one… except this salesman had it wrong. He did not have an option. Although he had been offered that job, it did not really exist. The option wasn’t real.

People are very generous when they do not have to deliver. They will promise great things when they do not need to deliver. Being generous makes us appear magnanamous or larger than we really are. Being generous makes us look good.

I have been in meetings where IT is generous with it’s services. However, they have failed to deliver as they promised.

The first advice to the business investor is simple. Test your options. Excercise some of them. See how they perform. The IT resources may exist in the budget but getting them deployed to your investment may result in unfortunate delay. You will discover how the process really works rather than how IT tell you it works.

The second advice to business investor is just as simple. Keep testing them on a regular basis. This change ALL the while. Some for the better, some for the worse. Something introduced to make one investor’s life better make make things worse for other investors.

Don’t fall into the same trap Willy Loman fell into. Don’t test your option for the first time when you really really need it.

Willy Loman is the salesman in “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller.