Practical Project Management for Building and Construction

Projects  •  39

It is important to distinguish between needs’ and objectives’ require-

ments and wishes. Wishes are “icing on the cake/gold-plating”—some-

thing to include in the project without asking for more money and/or

time. Car tires are needs, but Galaxy 500xE40 tires are most likely a wish.

During the design phase, many project managers have fallen to the temp-

tation to be a “nice guy” by approving various wishes. As an example, if,

every 2 weeks at a decision meeting, a project manager (PM) accepts four

wishes costing $1,500 each, aer 4 months there will be a cost increase of

nearly $50,000 for things in excess of requirements.

Someti ...