Repurposing with eyes wide open

We’re all continually forced to keep “doing more with less.” Everyone is facing it - big and small business, even the public school systems – and in every aspect. It’s just the times we live and work in.

As a result, repurposing is an option that has more appeal than ever. Repurposing – also known as using something created for one use for another use that may or may not be similar to what it was designed for – can be a very useful and effective solution.

If we go into it with our eyes wide open.

By that I mean, we have to realize that – all things considered – whatever we’re trying to repurpose wasn’t designed or built for the task we’re trying to use it for. If it was, using it wouldn’t be repurposing it at all. It would be using it for what it was made for.

But it wasn’t.

So, in repurposing we have to keep in mind that what we’re repurposing won’t fit the use 100+% and won’t do anything and everything we might need. But as long as it’s close or does most of them, then that’s the compromise we make in repurposing.

But if we do repurposing right, we will have went into it with eyes wide open to these compromises and are willing to put up with them to realize the cost benefit the repurposing allows us to reap by preventing a more expensive custom-built or new perfect solution.

Just to be clear; let me say again, I think repurposing is fine. We just have to go into it knowing there will be some compromises and it most likely won’t be a 100% perfect solution. But using a repurposed something allows us to hit most of the objectives and saves time and/or money.

Common sense, you say? I agree. But you’d be surprised how many times the “it’s not a perfect solution” can get trampled over and forgotten in a project - especially when project team members or project managers change..

Case in point; I was a participant on a project (but not the project mgr) where a Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) software package was being purchased. At first, the software was selected because it filled almost the entire list of needs.

But...as time went by, more groups joined the project and next thing we knew our project had team members from different groups getting in arguments with one another, ladies in tears and all kinds of calamity and drama. Why all the fuss? Because the new stakeholder groups and personnel came into the project - late - with more desired features than the project originally started out with. You guessed it - scope creep! - and they'd allowed it to cloud the knowledge that the COTS software wasn't a custom built solution. Instead, it had been selected because it was being repurposed, if you will, to fit most - but not all - of our needs in one solution.

So, repurposing something is fine. But keep your eyes wide open and realize it wasn't custom built solution. In short, it ain't gonna be perfect. But, it works.