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Bob:
We've used a spreadsheet these past few years to do our budgets. You
want us to develop another spreadsheet application?
Ellen:
No, I want a whole new application.
Bob:
You want us to reinvent the spreadsheet?
Ellen:
No, I want something simpler and more specific to the budgeting
process.
Bob:
Tell me more. What are the key features that you see in this
application?
Ellen:
Well, first of all it needs to be able to work concurrently with all
the users. With our spreadsheet, we'd have to take turns with the data entry or
we'd risk loosing each other's changes.
Bob:
It may just be that we're not using our spreadsheet's advanced
features. Shouldn't we investigate that first?
Ellen:
No, I'd rather have us invest our time in building the tool we know
that we need. At the end of the day your investigation may only show that we
still need the tool, and by then it might be too late to build it.
Bob:
I hear you saying that the deadline is rapidly approaching.
Ellen:
Yes—I want to be able to use it for the budget planning at the end
of this quarter. How long do you think it will take you to build it?
Bob:
Build what?
Ellen:
Haven't you been listening? The budget tool!
Bob:
I know that you mean the budget tool—but you haven't really given
me enough requirements upon which to base an estimate. Tell me more about
how you envision this tool being used.
Ellen:
Well, in the past we've taken last year's numbers and just bumped
them up by a few percent. Then we look at each category and tweak them. I
want a different approach this year. I'm going to take our department's budget,
give it a bump, then assign a chunk to each of my reports. I want you to take
those discretionary dollars and spell out how you would spend them.
Bob:
Shouldn't we be providing you with estimates of what we need for
the coming year, rather than you telling us what we have to spend?
Ellen:
In theory, perhaps so. But in practice we can only grow the budget
by so much. I'd rather skip the charade and jump right to allocating the dollars
we will likely be able to spend. Then as the year progresses, I'd like to use this
tool to track our spending against this plan.
Bob:
But isn't that why we have that big SAP application?
