One Of Those Projects

It's one of those projects: set the deadline first then make all the other decisions.

Last week I was approached about some updates for an old Windows based shipping system, which supposedly is being retired later this year (but that's another story). A meeting a week ago sorted out the basic requirements. It's a small project so four weeks seemed like plenty of time. Yeah, right.

This week the customer (a well known window blinds manufacturer) was supposed to get financial approval for the project, and follow up with their customer (a well known home renovation chain), who was the actual trigger for these changes.

And how much progress was made this week? Nothing. Zilch. Bupkis. The big zero.

Suddenly four weeks (three, now) isn't very long. Of course this is fairly typical. I would have been very surprised if any progress had been made this week. Few businesses are that efficient.