Dear Bob ... I've been a firm believer in and practitioner of The Theory of Everything Else for years. We've developed a solid reputation within our enterprise for delivering on the promise of business change through technology. The challenge we all too often face, in practice, is The Curse of the Teflon Business Partner (variations: substitute any of the following for "Teflon" -- Lazy, Opportunistic, Disin Dear Bob …I’ve been a firm believer in and practitioner of The Theory of Everything Else for years. We’ve developed a solid reputation within our enterprise for delivering on the promise of business change through technology.The challenge we all too often face, in practice, is The Curse of the Teflon Business Partner (variations: substitute any of the following for “Teflon” — Lazy, Opportunistic, Disingenuous, Coy) … those that recognize the opportunity to avoid doing their job altogether (oh, and! are sure to take credit for the success), as opposed to rising to the occasion as noted in your column. Sure, the job still gets done just the same (or maybe better) and the business reaps the benefit, but it does occasionally stick in the collective craw of the technical team. Any suggestions?– Needing more than everything elseDear Needing … The Curse of the Teflon Business Partner? Good title for a horror flick. Or a horrible project. It’s an all-too-common situation with no foolproof answer.The best answer I have is somewhat circular, and it’s a two-layered approach to business/IT governance.The first layer is built into the governance process for business change initiatives (which would be called “IT projects” in less enlightened businesses). It’s a screen for all proposals with four key criteria: (1) IT signs up for project costs (or at least the IT-related costs, which are most of them); (2) someone in the affected business areas signs up for the benefits; (3) IT and business resource requirements are clearly stated; and (4) included in the proposal is a clear and acceptable description of how project governance will be handled throughout the initiative. That project governance is the second layer. It’s where all project-related issues, including the Teflonification of the business partner, are escalated to. In general, the final point of escalation is the overall business/IT governance body, which is to say there comes a time when the project manager must recommend pulling the plug on the project because not all of the required resources have, in fact, been made available.This approach does work. But as I mentioned, it’s circular in that very often the Teflon reaches into the business/IT governance body, circumventing all safeguards and preventing success.What can I say? It’s yet another form of Murphy’s Law: Any system human beings devise to prevent failure can be overcome by human beings with sufficient determination and authority. – Bob ——– Technology Industry