All About Trey

An Analogy

Them: "How much does it cost to build a building? We need to know so we can ask for a budget."
Me: "What kind of building do you want?"
Them: "I'm not sure. Come up with something that makes sense."
Me: "Okay, we'll build this type of building (insert requirements) and it will cost $5M."
Them: "That's too much. It needs to cost less."
Me: "Okay, what don't you want in the building?"
Them: "I want it all. It just needs to cost less."
Me: "Well I can probably cut some of the requirements and get it down to $4M."
Them: "That's still too high. We'll just ask for $2M."

A month goes by:
Them: "Okay, here's your $1M to build the building."
Me: "Um, thanks. But we need to re-plan since that's less that what we said it would cost."
Them: "Just develop a plan and get going. We need this right away."
Me: "Um, okay."

Another month goes by:
Me: "We're on track for the building. It will have 5 floors and will be an office building."
Them: "Does it have a cafeteria?"
Me: "Um, no. We didn't plan on a cafeteria."
Them: "It needs to have a cafeteria."
Me: "Is there additional funding for a cafeteria?"
Them: "No."
Me: "Okay, I'll see what I can do."

Another month goes by:
Me: "We're on track for the building. It will have 4 floors and have a cafeteria."
Them: "I thought you said it was going to have 5 floors."
Me: "I needed to work in the cafeteria, so we lost the 5th floor."
Them: "Who told you to do that? Who made that decision?"
Me: "I guess I did. I was told there was a requirement for a cafeteria."
Them: "Well that was the wrong decision."
Me: "What should we have not done so we could do the cafeteria within the budget."
Them: "You should have done everything and the cafeteria."
Me: "Ummm???"

Another month goes by:
Them: "We're going to be using the building as an apartment building. Does it meet all of the housing codes?"
Me: "Well we built it to be an office building."
Them: "But we want to use it as an apartment building. Will it pass all of the housing codes and inspections?"
Me: "It will pass code for an office building, but I'll need to check on the housing code."
Them: "What will it take to change it to meet code?"
Me: "I'm not sure. I need to check. But we're in the final stages of the building, so if we make changes it's going to effect the schedule and there will be additional cost."
Them: "No we need this building on schedule as an apartment building and there is no more funding."
Me: "Umm, okay, even if I can make some changes to pass the housing code, it's a 2 month wait for housing inspectors, so it won't be ready by the original due date."
Them: "Well your failure to deliver this building on time will look bad on your past performance history."
Me: "Ummm??"

posted by Trey @ 8:45 PM