Re: IS AN ESTIMATE A COMMITMENT?

Subject: Re: IS AN ESTIMATE A COMMITMENT?
From: Iain Harrison <iharriso -at- SCTCORP -dot- COM>
Date: Tue, 16 Jun 1998 12:52:04 GMT

"Walker, Arlen P" <Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- COM> commented on:

But if that mechanic finds problems that couldn't be found until he
started taking my car apart, do expect him to stick to that cost
estimate even though he needs to do more work?

No, but if the mechanic continues to find such prblems, and continues
to revise the estimate up, I draw the conclusion that he's either
incompetant or out to shaft me, and I find another mechanic. I suspect
you would do the same.

And that was my point in asking how you'd feel about such a mechanic.

============

I don't think that's fair on the mechanic. It's very likely that the
problems were there because the previous maintenance of the car was
sub-standard, and now that someone thorough is working on it, all the
past errors and omissions are coming to light.

I've suffered this with cars and with documents. When you start to
look carefully, there's a huge amount wrong. The decision is whether
to do some roadside repairs and get the car/document running, or to do
a thorough overhaul that will make it reliable and usable in the
longer term.

Maybe your hypothetical mechanic has a longer-term view of the
vehicle, and isn't interested in just getting it out of the door, and
getting the payment in.

There are some documents I've worked on that are far from perfect, but
all that's needed is to get them running. Others will continue to be
developed and it is well worth putting them right sooner rather than
later.

The problems come when you add this work to the estimates for the
minor changes needed for the current update.

It's really a matter of dependencies: if the job depends on a
well-maintained car/document that only needs some small modification,
you base your estimate on that premise, but you specify that it is
based on such an assumption.

If the specified dependency isn't available, there's every reason to
say that the estimate needs to be revised.

Iain
iharriso -at- sctcorp -dot- com




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