Keep your options ready

This idea of offering options to the CIO has its own pros and cons. On one side if the proposal is turned down you can atleast rely on the other options and on the other side if you give CIOs cheap options they may vouch for it. One of the participant said that "If you give them the super cheap option, they might actually go for it and then you're stuck with it."

The idea of giving the CIOs alternatives raised a debate while some of them supported the idea the others were skeptical about this approach. One manager recommended going into the meeting with three options: a high-end everything-we-want option; a this-will-get-the-job-done option, and a bare bones option: "It will work, but it will be a struggle." There was also a suggestion for offering short-term approaches reports cio.com

One of the managers who supported this idea of offering options said that by giving CIO options, it "gives them some control over the solution itself."