Updated September 2026: in June 2020, after a week of iterations, the onsite team sent entirely new requirements and my manager insisted the existing slides could be reused, when I knew they could not. I have rewritten it into advice on handling a manager's optimistic assumptions about reuse.
After many rounds of changes, I closed my version of the document and handed it on. The next day a long email arrived from the onsite team with a new team member added and new requirements. The week's work looked wasted: new solution slides were needed from scratch. My manager, as before, acted as if the existing slides would carry over. I knew they would not fit the new requirements and that fresh input would be needed from other teams.
Why do managers overestimate reuse?
Because from a distance, a deck is a deck. The details that make slides relevant to a specific client, such as scope, architecture and assumptions, are invisible unless you have built them. Estimating reuse is easy to get wrong for anyone not close to the content.
How do you show what can and cannot be reused?
- Map each new requirement to existing slides.
- Mark each: reusable as is, reusable with changes, or new.
- Estimate hours for the changed and new ones.
A one-page map makes the case far better than saying "none of it fits".
When should you raise it?
Immediately, before the first daily call on the new requirements. If the assumption of reuse goes into the plan, the timeline will be wrong from day one. Raising concerns in the recurring call, as I did, is right, but earlier and with the map is better.
How do you get fresh inputs quickly?
List exactly what you need from each team and ask the same day. Offer a short call rather than a long email. Teams respond faster to specific questions with a clear deadline.
How do you handle a new team member joining mid-way?
Brief them early with the requirement map and the history of changes. A new person on the thread often brings new expectations, and a short briefing prevents them restarting discussions that were already settled. Ask them what they need from offshore and by when, so their input shapes the plan rather than arriving as another late change.
Is the previous week's work really wasted?
Rarely entirely. Some structure, research or diagrams usually survive. Save the old version in the repository as well; the same content may fit another client later.