This is missing the point. End users are clueless about what they need in a software solution. Take a sales pipeline, it's made of sales opportunities. Easy, ri

This is missing the point. End users are clueless about what they need in a software solution. Take a sales pipeline, it's made of sales opportunities. Easy, right? Try to get 50 sales managers across various countries to agree on what a sales pipeline should be and do. I am sure Blackboard has the same issue. Enter consultants. They are not completely useless, they try to get those 50 managers above to agree on 1 idea and process. But depending on how much credibility and trust said consultants have accumulated with the company there is only x% of crap requirements they can say NO to. The x% of crap requirements they have to say YES to from those 50 people for lack of contractual power, credibility and trust is directly correlated to how much the final software solution will suck. And I am assuming the consultants here are good, assume an x multiplier for incompetence. My point is: there is not enough focus on the business process and people aspect of things. A software solution is packaged consulting and best practices, nothing else. So if nobody is looking at the process and is able to dictate that 1 and 1 only process good luck building something that doesn't suck.