Execution

Support and Maintenance

  • Things need maintenance or they decay
  • Things needs support or their use will be limited
  • It is easy to underestimate support and maintenance cost
  • Especially in the technology industry, it is easy to think, "I will create a thing, and then walk away from that thing, and it will continue to operate and be useful independent of anyone."
    • This thinking is a fallacy
  • Occasionally technologies do get a good run without maintenance, but that is the exception, not the norm, and requires both exceptional circumstances and exceptional craftsmanship
    • Even with a good run, such a technology's days are numbered without maintenance
    • Even if a technology can get by for a time without maintenance, without support that technology will not be used beyond the scope of its initial deployment
  • Support and maintenance are two of the primary battlegrounds upon which tech companies compete
  • If a tech company is not significantly investing in support and maintenance, it will fail

Timelines

  • The primary cause of late projects is not starting soon enough
  • Reducing the length of a project either increases its cost or reduces its quality
    • Time, cost, quality—pick two
  • An unrealistically short deadline results in any or all of the following:
    • Delays
    • Increased cost
    • Reduced quality

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