Problem Statements, Business Outcomes, and Better Technology Decisions

Technology teams are often asked to solve something before everyone agrees on what the actual problem is.

Chad Carrington, CIO at Golden One Credit Union, joins The Tech Trek to talk about listening to business partners, defining the outcome first, and resisting the instinct to jump immediately to a technology solution.

The conversation also looks at how AI is changing this skill. As tools make building easier and faster, people still need to articulate what they actually want, ask better questions, and understand what success looks like.

What You Will Hear

• Why listening and hearing are not the same thing

• When solving 85 percent of a problem may be enough

• Why technology teams need more time with business users

• How AI is increasing the value of asking better questions

Key Moments

01:20 Listening versus actually hearing the business problem

03:47 When immediate customer impact matters more than technical debt

06:31 Bringing the business into decisions about speed and tradeoffs

09:47 Why technologists need to spend more time with business teams

13:20 How easier tools change the importance of defining the problem

18:33 Why AI is still a tool, not a substitute for expertise

One Line That Stuck

“There’s a difference between listening and hearing.”

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