hardDesignCase StudyScenarioMidSeniorStaffLead
You have been handed a scope and a budget, and the budget cannot buy the scope. What do you put in front of the customer?
5 min readUpdated 2026-08-15
Answer
Short answer
Show the arithmetic once, then convert the gap into a decision the customer can take: what the stated budget genuinely buys as a coherent first phase, what the full scope costs, and which specific outcome is deferred.
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Likely follow-ups
- The sales lead wants to bid the full scope at the budget and recover it through change requests. How do you respond?
- The customer says the budget is fixed and the scope is mandated by their regulator. What now?
- How do you write phase one so that the customer does not believe they have bought the whole thing?
- Which parts of your estimate would you show the customer, and which would you never show?
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