Imagine you want to build a house and you hire a general contractor. He gives the carpenters, bricklayers, electricians and plumbers detailed plans for their individual components -- but not for how the result of all of their work should fit together. You and the general contractor are in a hurry to get construction underway, so you agree that everyone should get started on their own jobs and work out the details of the interfacing later on. Predictably, there is chaos. As walls and fireplaces are built, and pipes and wires are routed through the house, conflicts arise among the various subcontractors over exactly what should go where. It becomes clear that someone's going to have to tear out his work and start over. The finger-pointing begins. Everyone looks to the architect to resolve the disputes, but he can't do much because the architectural designs aren't complete. Budget and schedule quickly fall by the wayside. Instead of a team building a house, there is just mutual animosity, with lawsuits threatened all around.
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