Timeline for Is there a way to combat Sales perpetually overcommitting?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
5 events
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| Nov 2, 2011 at 14:53 | comment | added | KeithS | The entire point of the Agile estimation is that the price is right and the pace is sustainable. Those are things that have value to a client; knowing how much it will REALLY cost, and how long it will REALLY take, and that they will get what they asked for for that price and that amount of time, is worth far more than a promise of "we'll beat any price". | |
| Nov 2, 2011 at 14:45 | comment | added | KeithS | If Joe says he can do it in a little over one week, then Joe gets to suffer through the job. If Joe fails, sales will learn to pad his estimates. If Joe manages to succeed, likely not wanting to spend another 80-hour week ever again, he'll adjust his own estimates. If neither of these happen, Joe will be fired for failing to meet his commitments one too many times, or will burn out and quit from overwork. If you're confident that Joe is overselling, then call the bluff. Just don't be Joe; it is not worth it (ok, ok, VERY RARELY worth it). | |
| Nov 2, 2011 at 1:29 | comment | added | Scott Whitlock | Ahh, but the salespeople are skilled in the art of negotiation and engineers are not. That's why they're in sales and we're in engineering! In my experience, most technical people just nod their head (it doesn't help that estimates are susceptible to anchoring bias). It's really difficult for technical people to say it'll take longer than someone thinks because they know it can easily be turned into a reflection on their ability. "You think it'll take two weeks? Joe said he can do it in a little over one." | |
| Nov 1, 2011 at 23:06 | history | made wiki | Post Made Community Wiki by brmore | ||
| Nov 1, 2011 at 17:03 | history | answered | KeithS | CC BY-SA 3.0 |