As money gets tight, decision making authority gets moved higher. Past decision makers, the people who previously have given you orders, suddenly move from being decision makers to [albeit significant] decision influencers, the problem is they don’t tell you – something stops them. So here is the acid test – are you dealing with the “budget holder” or the “budget caretaker”, find out who REALLY owns the business problem, who REALLY holds the budget and THIS is your decision maker.
