You have been using the free tier of a profiling tool for a month, and it has already found two slow queries nobody could find before. The paid plan costs a few hundred a year per seat. You would like the team to have it. You mention it in stand up, someone says that would be nice, and nothing happens.
Nothing happens because a remark is not a request. If you want money spent, you have to make it easy for someone to say yes.
Find out who actually approves it first. Your manager may sign it off, or may need to ask a director, or security may have to review anything that touches production data. Ask your manager directly. If I wanted us to buy a tool, what would you need from me, and who else has to agree?
Then write a short note. Half a page is plenty. What the tool does, in one sentence a non engineer could follow. The problem it solves, with a real example from your own work. It found the slow customer search query in ten minutes after we had spent two days looking. The cost, per year, all in. And what happens if you do not buy it, which is often the most persuasive line.
Be honest about the alternatives. Is there something the company already pays for that would do most of the job? A free option? Saying so yourself makes you sound like someone weighing it properly, not someone who has fallen for a product.
Answer the questions they will ask before they ask them. Where does it send our data? Does it work with our single sign on? Can we cancel after a year? If you do not know, find out, because a security question with no answer will stall the request for months.
Suggest a small start. Three seats for three months, then a look at whether it earned its place. A trial is far easier to approve than a commitment.
If the answer is no, ask what would change it. Sometimes it is timing, sometimes it is budget, and sometimes the next request just needs a better example.
– Asael Shinder
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