In a meeting a customer asked, “do you want this deal.” At the time I did not answer him, someone else did, of course they said “yes”. But I do have an answer:
No.
I want a deal that can actually be delivered on time, in budget and fit for purpose.
That project, like so many others, was none of those things. How could it be when there was no business justification, no planning and no scope defined by the customer? Just a vague command from the top to jump and an assumption that the vendors would get around to asking how high before they landed. Why is it so hard to plan before you execute? Start ups may be able to live by the shotgun method of product selection —but most do in fact die by it. Big companies? It’s a recipe for mediocrity at best and, more often, wasted money.
