Cost of Change
Change doesn’t always hurt where it happens. Sometimes, it hurts where it began — with a thought that was never written down.
In 1981, Barry Boehm described what many still overlook:
The later you discover a mistake, the more it costs.
→ 1× in requirements
→ 5× in design
→ 10× in implementation
→ 50× in testing
→ 100× in production
And yet, analysis is often skipped. Too slow. Too heavy. Too early to be useful.
But what it really is — is the only moment where things can still be changed without pain.
There’s a common belief that developers and users can “just talk it through.” That shared understanding simply happens. But that belief is a trap.
The key user focuses on what they know best: the detail. The developer sees the bigger picture — but without clarity. And in between them, the bridge is missing.
And what comes out is something that works, but doesn’t align. It functions, but without direction. It delivers, but not what was needed.
Analysis is a silent discipline. It prevents tunnel vision. It catches assumptions before they harden. It sees the system before it's too late to redesign it.
It doesn't promise to make things easy. It promises to make them understandable.
And in the final stretch — the place where budgets are fixed and mistakes are permanent — understanding is the only thing that matters.