A while back, I was walking through the shopping area in downtown Los Angeles on Broadway, one of the busiest marketing streets in Southern California.  Unlike the suburban malls, this is where old-time buildings with storefronts line the downtown streets and people carrying overfilled shopping bags shuffle by the open shops that have music blaring to attract attention.  And then there are the street vendors selling foods, magazines, and religions.  There are even street entertainers, and some clowns who make balloon sculpture animals for the children.

As I wandered by, I noticed that two of the balloon-twisting clowns were having a discussion…a rather heated one.  There they stood on the corner, nose to nose, or should I say, red ball nose to black painted nose, surrounded by adults and children watching as they fought over who had the right to twist balloons on that corner.

I’m not sure which clown threw the first punch, the one with the ball nose, or the one with the huge floppy shoes, but before it was over, they had to be separated by the police.

“How unprofessional,” I thought.  “What kind of clowns would fight on the street?”

But then I realized that they were having a workplace dispute, not unlike any other.  They just happened to work on the street and were having an argument in front of their customers.

This kind of thing happens all the time in technology projects.  You’ve probably experienced it too.  A small group of people from a project go to meet with users or clients to discuss progress or some important decisions, when a heated disagreement breaks out between the project team members…right in front of the clients.

I’m not trying to suggest that dissent about important project decisions should be suppressed.  On the contrary, a good healthy debate should take place when any critical decisions are made, but the debate usually shouldn’t be carried out in front of the clients.

Since most project decisions relate to technical details, and clients rarely possess sufficient technical background to take part in the discussion in a meaningful way, these discussions should take place in private.  You’re the experts.  That’s why the clients are letting you take care of their technology.  You debate the issues and then bring the clients clearly defined options along with recommendations.

Rather than raise the clients confidence in your ability to identify important issues, airing dirty laundry usually diminishes their confidence in your abilities and your common sense.  And, what kind of clowns would want to do that?

Paul Glen is the Founder and Editor of GeekLeaders.com.  He is also a columnist for Computerworld and the author of the award-winning book "Leading Geeks: How to Manage and Lead People Who Deliver Technology."  You can read more about his speaking and consulting at www.paulglen.com.

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