Asking for Authority

If you are doing something genuinely new, you can waste a lot of time tooling about trying to find someone with authority to say "Yes". 

Frankly, if  whatever-it-is is that new, no-one will know if they have the authority or not. 

So, unless you're asking the very top guy for permission, you're far better off assuming you have the authority yourself. 

Then, at least, you have the chance of asking for forgiveness. 

Instead of begging for mercy at review time because you've failed to do anything at all. 

Comments

[David Shea]

I've found that often the only way to make progress is to first PROVE something can be done and will work when you're in an environment where nobody's overly interested in approving efforts to "try" something. To many people have Veto power (without having to fully justify it). Prove it works, get advocates from the business line then "ask" to move towards production (spending $) with a proven idea. :-D