If any of you have worked in the commercial world eventually you run into the scenario where your boss went to a vender presentation and was sold on some idea. They come back all excited insisting we have to have this new solution as everyone in the room cringes. Then someone asks the very simple question "what is the requirement?". The boss goes we need this solution, and that someone asks again "what is the requirement, not the tool". The boss then goes on to explain how this solution meets all these requirements, and that someone goes "we have solutions in place already, is there a cost savings associated with this new solution?". Silence.. Turns out the boss just wanted the free cruise out of the deal...
I say this to set the stage for a serious turn of events..
I called myself out on being enamored by the idea of an expedition vehicle. Sat down and went through the process of establishing requirements, not the dream. This exercise started out at first by establishing what an average trip looked like (trip duration, distance, etc) to identify support requirements (water, energy, protection from the elements, etc). At this point the expedition vehicle was still standing strong (admittedly a little over spec'd). Then I looked over the past few years and what we anticipated as what our annual trips looked like to establish vehicle requirements. This is where the expedition vehicle lost most of its standing and started looking like a push mower with a V8 mounted on it. Truth be told 41% of the trips annually planned would require a 4x4 to get to location, the vast majority of destinations only required a 2x4 (Gasp!). In desperation I went to my Lady for her input hoping the outcome would change. No such luck.
You might say I had a bit of a case of "scope creep" (also called requirement creep and feature creep). Based on this recent analysis, the MAP-V will be a 4x4 crew cab truck with a off-road trailer. More to come.
If you would like to go through the same exercise without all the work I you can download the spreadsheet here. Hopefully your requirements will justify your vision, or at least save you some time or money in the long run.
