Despite the UK Government issuing it's new budget today - oh utter joy, btw - this post was motivated by IT budgeting experiences.
I reckon budgeting is waste.
A budget is based on assumptions and estimations and therefore, without constant refinement, which seldom happens, it gets out of date fast. And the whole process of arriving at the budget amount is shamefully stupid and entirely comical! It goes something like this ..
Someone gets to spend an inordinate amount of painful time (living the myth that it’s possible to know everything at the start) trying to calculate the amount of money needed to deliver 'whatever'. That amount is submitted, consolidated and rolled up into department, division, etc, and ultimately company figures, undergoing a protracted review process enroute that typically results in the amount being summarily cut. Of course, this is all a silly game and everyone knows how it's played. The someone, to ensure he receives the amount he feels he needs to get the job done, exaggerated the amount in the first place. He purposely over-budgeted in his submission in anticipation of budget cuts. The reveiwers know this. And the someone knows the reviewers know and .. *sigh* What starts out involving the operational realities soon becomes a purely financial planning exercise that is divorced from the operational realities. The futility of it all.
It gets dafter. Ever heard of people rushing to spend the remaining money from this year's budget before the year runs out so they won't suffer budget cuts next year? WTF!
This all works so well, right! There's got to be more effective ways.
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