Business Cases are where innovation goes to die.
When last did you cancel a project after writing the Business Case?
Why spend money to confirm what you already know:
"We're going to start this project, regardless."
Untold hours wasted on pointless justification of half-baked ideas.
Remember to throw in a few of the most obvious risks so no one thinks you cheated.
Governance, tick.
Risks? "Managed".
Rubber stamped.
And you're done.
Go, go, go.
Forget talking to customers.
Forget learning as we go.
Nah! Let's instead follow the highest-paid person's opinion.
The HIPPO says go!
(Perhaps people do get smarter the more we pay them?)
The problem is customers don't care about Business Cases.
Or Governance
Or HiPPOs.
Go on, get out there.
Talk to your customers.
Revolutionary ideas always have unexpectable results. Trying to define them beforehand is not just impossible; it’s wasteful.
This makes us trend away from exploring the more unusual ideas. And from finding truly new approaches.
Business cases are where new ideas go to die.
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PS. You've never discovered that a project was NOT worth doing? Really?
You didn't look, or you weren't allowed to?
When last did you challenge that fear?