How to present a problem to your boss

What you'll learn

Structuring Problem Discussions

Presenting Solutions and Their Implications

Communicating Solution Benefits

Accepting Responsibility for Outcomes

As an engineer it can often be very difficult to present an issue to the management team.   Often when we do present an issue, the management team returns and can be frustrated about the issue being raised. This article will hope to address how to properly raise an issue to the management team so that frustrations can be avoided.

These difficult conversations do not have to be disconcerting. By employing a very simple process to help facilitate this conversation, you will learn how to manage an difficult conversation upward.

Every problem that needs to be surfaced upward has some form of an intro or headline followed by the description of the problem. once the problem is understood a solution should be presented that addresses the problem. Any implications or side effects of the solution, such as cost or required resourcing, should then be shared. Then the direct benefits of the solution should be discussed. The last step is to accept responsibility of seeing the work to completion.

Problem Description

At the start of the conversation you need to convey the problem as quickly and succinctly as possible. Convey the details as a high level summary and avoid going into nitty-gritty details unless absolutely necessary. If your boss wants additional information, your boss will most likely ask for them. For this reason it is important to have the necessary data and information available even though it might not be used.

The goal for this section of the conversation is for your boss to understand the problem statement and the impact. Try to reach this goal as quickly as possible with as few of words as possible.

Explain your Solution

Once the problem statement and impact is understood quickly move into this to the proposed solution. Describe to your boss how your solution will properly mitigate or correct the problem at hand. As before going into the nitty-gritty details is not needed unless your boss asked for specific information.

The goal for this section of the conversation is to convey to your boss that a proposed solution is available and that the problem can be mitigated.

Implications of the Solution

Even the best solution will always have implications that can affect the team or projects timeline. This is the part of the conversation to share these implications. Examples of these implications might be a shift in resourcing which causes another project to be delayed. Another example might be an additional cost that is incurred and has to be accounted for.

The goal of this section is to convey all of the side effects or implications of the solution that you are presenting. Meaning any negative issues that may arise of having to go down this solution path. While you might not need to explain every little implication you will want to include all of the big items so that nothing comes up as a secondary problem down the line.

Discuss the Benefits

in order to sell your boss on the implications  of the proposed solution, your boss will have to understand the clear benefits of going down this route. Use this time in the conversation to discuss the benefits of this particular solution over another. For example you might convey that this solution is the cheaper of two or three alternative solutions.

The goal of this section is to have your boss understand that the proposed solution that you outlined is indeed the right solution to take. Be careful not to spend too much time explaining alternative solutions - that is not the purpose of this section. Also be aware that your boss might disagree with the potential stated benefits so you might want to have data supporting your claims available.

Own the Outcome to Completion

Even the best laid plans might fail if not properly nurtured and monitored. If you want your boss to accept your proposal then you will want to put your backing behind. This is done by you accepting responsibility and owning the outcome of the problem all the way to completion.

The goal of this section is to re-instill trust and faith in your boss. Accept any responsibility for any failures and convey that you will own the resolution to completion.

Wrapping it all together

Using these simple steps we can take a difficult conversation, such as presenting a difficult problem to your boss, and turn it into an opportunity. a good boss will recognize that mistakes and problems will arise. A good boss will care more about how the problem is addressed rather than seeking to blame the person responsible.