Valuable intuition

Custom software is expensive to create, and variable enough that it’s not worth the time to invest in marginally valuable projects.

If you’re not entrenched in development, it’s hard to know when an idea may be encroaching on marginally valuable.

Fortunately, you have an arsenal of intuition at your disposal. Ask your developers or whomever is responsible for creating software for your organization. Of course it also requires that you change the conversation a bit. Usually, marching orders are the only communication given to technical people.

If you bypass the process of writing out hundreds of requirements and asking for an estimate. And instead discuss what the project is worth, why it’s valuable, you’d be surprised how quickly developers can tell you if it’s doable. And if it’s not doable, with the value in mind, they may be able to propose alternative, worthwhile options.