Strategic Misrepresentation

Warning: indiscreet. May cause light-bulb moment and/or outrage, depending.

Which method is more common for representing costs, in major projects like museums and exhibitions?

A. Accurate representation
B. Strategic mis-representation
C. Mix of A + B

Method A represents all costs as they will be, including unknowns. High or low, it is what it is. (Like many firms, mine only delivers method A.)

But with large public projects, high costs might be politically unacceptable. So sometimes costs are (B) strategically mis-represented as lower to get approval. Then, once a project starts, stakeholders who would have rejected it due to cost will now reject stopping it, because money has been spent (see whole book about this here).

Ethical or not, some amount of strategic misrepresentation is common. In fact, it might be the only way some major projects can start.

Here’s the thing:
Project costs are sometimes accurately presented, sometimes strategically misrepresented. Most often, it’s a mix.

And that has implications. For example: if your piece of a project is accurately represented, but another piece is strategically misrepresented — your piece might one day get cut to pay for the other.

(No light-bulb moment? Bless you. Just take note for later.)

Warmly,
Jonathan

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MtM Word of the Day:
Sidelight. (also: side-light, sidelite) An unopenable pane of glass next to a door or window panel. Typically tall and narrow. Front doors, glass room doors, and display cases can all have sidelights.