Give It to Them Straight

摘要

When planning the IT schedule and budget, how many of us think, "That project will be overdue ... " or "Oh, yeah, we're going to run over on that project by hundreds of thousands ... "? Of course, those thoughts never make it into the project plan, but at least we're aware of the inherent risk of projects coming in late or going over budget. You can manage your people's time. You can set realistic deadlines. But how do you cope with diffi-cult-to-integrate products and technologies or massive customizations? The answer is pretty simple: You don't let them get into the plan, or you make it clear what they cost. If you and your organization convince yourselves that you are so special as to need an application customized for every specific need, you are fooling yourselves and throwing money away.