𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗯𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗯𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘆𝗰𝗹𝗲? 🤔

“I am thinking of implementing all 𝟯𝟭𝟮 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘂𝗱𝘀, integrating with 𝟯𝟰 𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗰𝘆 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀, all of which CANNOT be decommissioned, but where the 𝘃𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀, and I want to roll it out to 5 continents, adhering to 𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗮𝗰𝘆 𝗹𝗮𝘄𝘀, utilising 𝗺𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶-𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆(or whichever the local business units prefer) and want to 𝗮𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝟮𝟯 𝗲𝘅𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝘀
because we just acquired them last week.
How much will that cost and how long will that take?”

Whuuuut?!
😱

To be honest – most clients want to know key information up front. Yesterday, thank you very much.

Ummm, nope. 🙅🏻‍♀️
Not unless you have a crystal ball or a DeLorean machine and you’ve actually gone through the whole project and you know what happened.

Based on initial conversations (that can be quite high level) we might get a big fuzzy picture of what the cost and time estimates might be.

This is called a 𝗥𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗢𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗠𝗮𝗴𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲 (or a ROM) and is usually where you might be able to get to during limited time in Pre-Sales.

Depending on how in-depth the Discovery phase goes (and this depends on whether the client wants a Fixed Price or a Time & Materials costing for the project implementation), that big fuzzy picture will become clearer.

It’s usually in the implementation that requirements crystalizes a lot more, and the time & cost estimates turn from 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 to 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹.

That’s why waterfalls get such a bad rep.
It’s almost impossible to understand all requirements up front and nail everything down… but it makes estimation so much easier.

Had such an interesting conversation with Alexander Lapa about value-based pricing, which seems similar to Fixed Price (but not really) which has tickled my brain cells as to how it could work in the usual commercial models adopted by professional services. 🤨

#SalesforceConsultants – what are your thoughts?

#OnThePeiroll
#CrystalizingTheFuzzy