Comment by mongol
7 months ago
Is not this a very generic phenomenon? I would argue it applies broadly. For example budgeting, you usually start from last year's budget and tweak that, rather than start from scratch. Or when you write an application letter, or a ServiceNow ticket, or whatever. Now I regret that I have brought in ServiceNow in the discussion, it kills the good mood....
There's also "zero based budgeting" (ZBB) that starts from zero and says "justify everything".
Which in my experience sometimes involves copying last years justifications
It might!
But as I understand it and I am not an accountant (IANAA?), for non-ZBB budgets last years budget is usually used as a starting point and increases are justified.
"Here's why I need more money to do the same things as last year, plus more money if you want me to do anything extra".
I'd be curious what our man Le Cost Cutter Elon Musk does for budgeting?