This is more of a thought and less of a post. But this has always bothered me when I come in touch with novice and experienced colleagues of mine. With the current market trends, pressure is always on for faster cheaper solutions. And the course that most of us tend to take is to look at options for cutting corners.

Now cutting corners is a good thing since it helps reduce some dead weight in terms of redundant processes and red-tape. But I also like to believe that there is something known as "Qualified to Cut Corners".

It is my firm belief that one has to understand the ins and outs of a landscape before attempting to cut corners. Think about visiting a new city and trying to save time by taking cuts that you are not aware of. The risk is that if you ever get lost, you wont have the knowledge to track your way back to the main streets and find your way around. And in the world of common sense, such decisions would be called rash and immature. Then I wonder why people think this is possible in the world of projects?

To answer the question in last sentence of your post, people in the world of projects try to 'cut corners' as you put it because they overestimated your (or perhaps my) abilities to handle risks. Let's for a moment not assume they have not seen the risk we saw.

Very true Anon.

Thats just all the more reason to be extra deligent and NOT underestimate the risks of taking short cuts :-)

happy birthday Raghavan.