3 ms·

A good friend of mine worked for HP Consulting, which at the time was using heavyweight waterfall method. Out of curiosity, I asked her how well they hit their

A good friend of mine worked for HP Consulting, which at the time was using heavyweight waterfall method. Out of curiosity, I asked her how well they hit their schedules and costs. "Oh, we hit our schedules and costs 100% of the time", she said. I was incredulous, so I pressed her on the point. "Well, compared to the contracted schedules and costs, we run 200% over on average by the time we deliver. But what happens is that customers quickly figure out that what they contracted for isn't anything like what they actually need. And every time a requirement changes, we add time and money. A lot of time and money. More than enough to make up for any actual overruns. So we always hit our schedules and costs exactly, by the time we're done." In short, "We will deliver $X for $Y amount, in $Z months or less" is a total scam.

lelanthran 4y ago
> And every time a requirement changes, we add time and money. A lot of time and money. More than enough to make up for any actual overruns. ... > In short, "We will deliver $X for $Y amount, in $Z months or less" is a total scam. How is that a scam? "We will deliver $X in $Y months for $Z money" is easily predictable by the client when the client wants to change $X. If the client doesn't change $X, the client can understand what they will pay and when they will get it. When the client changes $X to $X+a, they still understand that delivery will be "$x+a in $Y+b months for $Z+c money". In fact, the original contract they signed made it clear to them what the cost and time was for changing requirements. More to the point, when they want to make a change, they can balance the need for the change against the cost and time. Even better, because they know these things upfront, someone at the client will have to approve the cost and delivery time for the new requirements. That person is not going to give the supplier a blank cheque. It's a good deal better than "We deliver working parts until you are satisfied or until you run out of money. We cannot tell you in advance how much this will cost and how long it will take." I mean, if experienced developers are unable to get their software development supplier to deliver with only a small margin of money/time overruns, what hops is there for the procurement person at any company?

lelanthran 4y ago

> And every time a requirement changes, we add time and money. A lot of time and money. More than enough to make up for any actual overruns. ... > In short, "We will deliver $X for $Y amount, in $Z months or less" is a total scam. How is that a scam? "We will deliver $X in $Y months for $Z money" is easily predictable by the client when the client wants to change $X. If the client doesn't change $X, the client can understand what they will pay and when they will get it. When the client changes $X to $X+a, they still understand that delivery will be "$x+a in $Y+b months for $Z+c money". In fact, the original contract they signed made it clear to them what the cost and time was for changing requirements. More to the point, when they want to make a change, they can balance the need for the change against the cost and time. Even better, because they know these things upfront, someone at the client will have to approve the cost and delivery time for the new requirements. That person is not going to give the supplier a blank cheque. It's a good deal better than "We deliver working parts until you are satisfied or until you run out of money. We cannot tell you in advance how much this will cost and how long it will take." I mean, if experienced developers are unable to get their software development supplier to deliver with only a small margin of money/time overruns, what hops is there for the procurement person at any company?