Part three. The Market
The four prequalification questions
The cheapest seam repair is not accepting work that cannot succeed.
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A great deal of what looks like a delivery problem is an intake problem. Work that could never have gone well was accepted, and every function downstream did its best with it. Four questions, asked before acceptance, in writing, with the answers kept. Does this customer want what we actually do, rather than an adjacent thing we could probably manage? Is the person we are speaking to able to decide, or will this need somebody who has not been in any conversation so far? Do we know what would count as success, specifically enough that we could be shown to have failed? And can we do it at the price, at our real cost rather than our marginal cost? None are difficult. They are simply questions nobody is incentivised to ask when a deal is closed.
A great deal of what looks like a delivery problem is an intake problem. Work that could never have gone well was accepted, and every function downstream did its best with it.
Four questions, asked before acceptance, in writing, with the answers kept.
Does this customer want what we actually do, rather than an adjacent thing we could probably manage? Adjacent work is where margin and goodwill both go to die.
Is the person we are speaking to able to decide, or will this need somebody who has not been in any conversation so far? An unnamed approver is the single most reliable predictor of a stalled delivery.
Do we know what would count as success, in terms specific enough that we could be shown to have failed? If success is defined only as satisfaction, you have agreed to an unbounded obligation.
Can we do it at the price, at our real cost rather than our marginal cost? Marginal cost thinking at intake is how an operation books a full year of work it loses money on.
None of these are difficult questions. They are simply questions nobody is incentivised to ask at the moment a deal is close, which is exactly why they need to be in the process rather than in someone's judgement.
Two things worth doing, neither of which costs anything
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