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There is also another way of looking at this doomed project. 1. A client didn't know what they wanted, had 60 million to spend on figuring it out, and hired a
by lumost 4y ago
There is also another way of looking at this doomed project.
1. A client didn't know what they wanted, had 60 million to spend on figuring it out, and hired a firm that would let them spend 60 million.
2. The firm was incentivized to provide a nice looking underestimate and then adapt as new work was discovered.
3. The firm continued getting paid as long as the client was happy.
4. The client did not want to be told that the project was a year late in advance.
One unfortunate aspect of the customer is always right is that the customer may often be very wrong.
- thih9 4y agoI see your point and I agree. At the same time I’d say this bigger picture is directly contributing to the secrecy and dishonesty within the firm. Not only the client is not aware what they actually want and are getting; it looks like the firm is not fully aware what they’re delivering either. I guess dealing with clients who are wrong may be a risky business.
- 3pt14159 4y agoThis type of thinking is how we get ants. Ants Lana. Ants. There are real humans in the loop here. They can easily put their foot down and find another job if they get fired. These are not people at the edge of feeding their families. These are people that buy 94 octane gas at the Sunoco fuel pump for their stupid sports car. If people don't make moral decisions in their day to day lives the world gets worse. It may not seem like the millions of dollars belong to anyone but they do. Pensioners or millionaires or even just normal folks that grasp their tiny share of the pool via their ESOP. When people just throw resources and good will under the bus in the name of career advancement they're visibly hurting the world. Each single dollar could have been spent on refugees, climate change, or war relief. I am very sick of this cavalier attitude by the tech elite.
- thih9 4y agoYou are right too. And yet, there are 2.87 million ants per person in the world [1], and people continue to choose short term personal goals. I guess in the end it’s about balance, i.e. being selfish won’t kill us as long as it’s not the only thing we (humans) do. But yeah, we have to keep that in mind. Or ants will be the only thing left. [1]: https://misfitanimals.com/ants/how-many-ants-are-there-in-the-world/ https://misfitanimals.com/ants/how-many-ants-are-there-in-th...
- perfecthjrjth 4y agoThat's how many federal and state contracts are, esp in IT. Some vague design documents, just burn through the money.
- invig 4y agoTwo wrongs make a right?
- andrewflnr 4y ago> One unfortunate aspect of the customer is always right is that the customer may often be very wrong. In other words, "the customer is always right" leads to absurdity even if interpreted generously, so maybe it's actually a bad principle. Anyway, your optimistic view of the project in OP still does not describe an efficient use of 60M. Lots of us find that morally repugnant, and are not convinced to accept it by interpretations like the one you put forward. When people want to good work instead of bad work, we would prefer that be rewarded, not punished as it was in OP's story.
- nitwit005 4y agoOmitted from this article is the details of the contract. Projects taking longer than expected is normal, and there are typically terms spelling out what should happen in that case.