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This chapter explores risks and consequences that arise from miscommunication between business and IT. Many readers may find the situations described by the following questions all too familiar:

• If you are a businessperson, have you been in situations where communicating your business needs, strategies, and goals to technical people meant having to translate them into unfamiliar notations and models?

• If you are a technologist, have you ever found yourself striving to explain to non-technical people the merits of your proposal?

• As an architect or developer, have you had to implement requirements without fully understanding the reasons behind the need for the functionality?

• As a business executive or program manager, have you ever been responsible for choosing between technical solutions that you couldn't distinguish from one another?