Episode 30 - Governance

I drift off in the middle of the monologue. Somewhere at the back of my mind I realise that the Boss has worked out how to launch his browser again. Deleting the icon on his desktop could only stop him for so many weeks... Anyway he's in the middle of a long speech on project governance when I lose the will to live. Governance, stake-holders, ITIL, SEI, requirements, ITIL, business cases... It stops, finally, and I realise that he's waiting for a response.

'I'm not sure…' is the best response I can come up with, not having listened for the previous ten minutes.

He looks a bit crestfallen. 'You don't agree we need to put a new governance process and structure into place?'

'That goes without saying,' I respond, knowing that I need to be taking some evasive action otherwise I'm in for a direct hit.

'Good. I'm thinking we follow ITIL on this,' he adds decisively.

'ITIL? You know we've got some real ITIL experience in the team,' I lie.

The Boss looks suitably impressed. 'Really? That's great. Who is it?'

I look around the room. Suddenly everyone in the team looks incredibly busy. Eyes fixed hard on their screens. No breathing as they're all holding their breath.

Alison? No, she's too useful to piss off. Kevin? He's near a deadline. Crispin? He owes me a favour, so I can pay that off by dropping someone else in it… Colin? Colin's not here. Perfect.

'Colin,' I announce loudly. Sighs of relief all round the room.

The Boss turns round. 'Is he in today?'

'He's in a meeting.' I neglect to say that he's probably meeting with a doughnut and a cup of coffee in the kitchen at the moment. 'He'll be back in 15 minutes. Shall I send him your way?'

'Good idea,' the Boss agrees.

Continued at TechBookReport.com