Thread by @swardley

X : You know that project you spent a day mapping for us and said we would fail in these specific contracts.
Me : Gosh, that was seven years ago.
X : Well it failed in exactly the contracts you pointed to.
Me : You didn't change the contracts?
X : No.
Me : Why?

X : We spent five months writing those contracts, you spent a day mapping.
Me : You thought that time spent was somehow associated with correctness? The more words the better?
X : I'm not going to end up an X am I?
Me : No-one will ever know.

Me : Look on the bright side, a lesson learned. Next time map your project, apply contracts to the map and then chalenge whether you're building it the right way.
X : An expensive lesson.
Me : I won't ask. Water under the bridge. You're not getting those millions back.

Me : Out of curiosity, what shoud I have charged you for that day?
X : A few million would have been cheap if we had listened.
Me : Hmmm, that 's encouraging. Something for the future. Cheap you say? Oh, I won't pour salt into the wound. Lesson learned.

X : Is this the worse you've seen?
Me : Even if we're talking a few hundred million then it's not even close. About $1.2 billion tops the leaderboard for doomed projects that were obviously doomed before they started.

X : What happened?
Me : They showed me the project and I gave them an alternative for $25M with the same result.
X : What was the alternative?
Me : Me, sitting on a beach drinking mojitos and giving them a call in five years to say "We failed"

X : What happened?
Me : They asked me to leave.
X : I guessed that. What happened with the project?
Me : Well, I got a call six years later from one of the execs who said they wish they had paid me $25m.
X : Vindicates your work?
Me : I'd have preferred $25m.

X : Do you still do that?
Me : What? Help people analyse their projects?
X : Yes
Me : No, it's a waste of my time. I prefer teaching people to map then at least they might challenge themselves. A lot less headache.

The general lesson ... don't expect people to simply agree with what you map for them. It's a far better idea to teach people to map because only then will they challenge their own ideas.

This is also why case examples can be counterproductive. The benefit or not from mapping depends upon context and willingness of people to challenge their own ideas. It's better to spread slowly by word of mouth, by use and with one practitioner teaching another.

X : How much will mapping save us?
Me : No idea.
X : How much benefit will it create?
Me : No idea.
X : What is the ROI?
Me : No idea.
X : So what's the point?
Me : Some find it useful.