Guessing is not a strategy: How to build decision velocity with AI and real-time data
June 10, 2026 | Live Webinar
Einstein’s Blackboard: How to Begin a Business Case
Clever tools don’t mean good answers. Albert Einstein never used anything more complicated than a blackboard and the theorist of relativity also felt, “The formulation of a problem is often more essential than its solution.” And what is the simplest and the best way to kick-start formulating any problem, including a business case? A question.
Question the question
Unfortunately, many business cases read like a solution looking for a problem and offer the reader a free puzzle (but no prize) as to what question is being answered. This is dangerous for a least three reasons.
First, there is the risk of solving the wrong problem. An example from my past. A client wanted help with a new trading and derivatives valuation system. On a closer examination, we found frequent speculation on short-term interest rates. As the finance arm of a car company, their distinctive competence was designing and manufacturing cars. Designing a smooth V6 affords no special insights into interest rate movements--so, they should simply have matched their assets and liabilities. Instead of a whiz-bang (and expensive) derivatives system, a straightforward asset liability management system was appropriate.
Second, given technology derives its value from the underlying business problem solved: If you get the problem wrong, then the resulting IT valuation in the business …
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"It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not to deserve them." - Mark Twain |