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I think there’s a spectrum here, I doubt many people are deliberately hoarding huge, easy, and /certain/ cost or resource savings just to use later, but it is e

I think there’s a spectrum here, I doubt many people are deliberately hoarding huge, easy, and /certain/ cost or resource savings just to use later, but it is easy to end up with a long list of possible things that you haven’t had time to try, and won’t get prioritised until somebody else cares. Also, be careful what you wish for regarding cost savings. You may think you’re doing well saving 500k, but in a medium sized company there are likely a lot of easy ways to save a chunk more than that which you really aren’t going to like.

arethuza 3y ago
I have a book about the management consulting industry that suggest there is at least one large successful firm of management consultants where the answer is always "fire 23% - 33% of your staff" regardless of what the question was. Apparently this is the level that most organisations can stagger on long enough for senior management to bank the bonuses and move on and upwards and before long term effects kick in.
- aardvark179 3y ago
  Yeah that’s always a bit depressing, but most companies only really seem to get the consultants in so they can be told the thing they were going to do anyway. I’ve seen good products and companies brought low by making the wrong bets and doing what was safe and sensible and cost reducing but not really thinking long term enough. They can stagger on for a long time still turning a reasonable profit until they suddenly don’t.
  - arethuza 3y ago
    I suspect senior management who hire that consultancy know exactly what will happen but they need the cover to be able to say that they had "independent" management consultants come in and look at the business and give their "honest" recommendations.
BlueTemplar 3y ago
GP did mention that the whole project was actually a waste of money.
- aardvark179 3y ago
  Yeah, but I’ve seen plenty of very smart engineers over the years who can’t see why a business values X which they think is worthless but not Y which they think is important. I was thinking of all the other ways businesses can “save money”, like travel bans, or getting rid of nice things, or closing offices, or getting rid of staff… They may not really save money, but they’ll look just as good on somebody’s spreadsheet.

arethuza 3y ago

I have a book about the management consulting industry that suggest there is at least one large successful firm of management consultants where the answer is always "fire 23% - 33% of your staff" regardless of what the question was. Apparently this is the level that most organisations can stagger on long enough for senior management to bank the bonuses and move on and upwards and before long term effects kick in.

aardvark179 3y ago
Yeah that’s always a bit depressing, but most companies only really seem to get the consultants in so they can be told the thing they were going to do anyway. I’ve seen good products and companies brought low by making the wrong bets and doing what was safe and sensible and cost reducing but not really thinking long term enough. They can stagger on for a long time still turning a reasonable profit until they suddenly don’t.
- arethuza 3y ago
  I suspect senior management who hire that consultancy know exactly what will happen but they need the cover to be able to say that they had "independent" management consultants come in and look at the business and give their "honest" recommendations.

BlueTemplar 3y ago

GP did mention that the whole project was actually a waste of money.

aardvark179 3y ago
Yeah, but I’ve seen plenty of very smart engineers over the years who can’t see why a business values X which they think is worthless but not Y which they think is important. I was thinking of all the other ways businesses can “save money”, like travel bans, or getting rid of nice things, or closing offices, or getting rid of staff… They may not really save money, but they’ll look just as good on somebody’s spreadsheet.