Project Budget, Are You Spending Enough?
What does your project budget look like? Do you have enough resources?
If you get sick, and perhaps require an antibiotic, is one pill enough? If you take only one, will it help your condition or is it a waste of time?
A ten-thousand-dollar car might easily take you from Rhode Island to California, but if there is not enough money for gas, the car may not matter that much.
If you spend one thousand dollars on a marketing campaign, will it be enough to reach your audience and generate sales? What if you spend one hundred thousand dollars?
Sometimes, something is better than nothing. And sometimes, not enough doesn’t fix anything at all.
Starting matters. Someone may suggest that getting halfway is better than getting nowhere. I agree, yet what is the goal? Is the goal to get halfway?
Project Budget
When there is a problem, people often try to throw money at it.
Give some money and we’ll see what happens.
Return on investment should always be a factor. Understanding the goals and how the project will be measured should occur before funding, not after. And yes, spending a little money to explore if the project is reasonable makes sense.
Buying a dozen two by four pieces of lumber won’t build a house in an upscale neighborhood.
Buying a laptop with a 17-inch screen is nice, but if you need another thousand dollars for software and it’s not in the budget the laptop really doesn’t matter.
Businesses and government entities waste a lot of money each year on the concept of, “It’s in the budget.”
Spending nothing might be better than spending a little only to end up right back at nothing.
-DEG
Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.
