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I work amongst people who charge ahead implementing a solution to a problem they have not yet defined or identified.

I then get involved at a late stage — usually last to know — after they have procured developers (usually somebody’s relative) to build a product, pointing out that it adds no additional functionality over what we already provide.

Curious, I ask, “Can you send me the project brief?” No, but of course there is no project brief. Well of course there isn’t. “Can you send me the spec the developer is working to?”

At this stage, you might think they may pause for thought, but instead I’m the one who gets the dressing down. “This has been approved by the board,” they tell me.

Yep, a project with no brief or specification has been signed off, and the project is well underway, and my job now is to provide project assurance. Well of course that will be easy if you’re retrofitting requirements to your solution. Just work backwards.

“Here is the solution, my good man. Now go and identify the problem we’re solving.”