Illusion of Control

Present a single estimate, and the conversation becomes about whether it's too expensive.

That's how I used to do it. One plan, the one I thought was optimal. How does this look? The client scans the numbers top to bottom. Can we cut this part? Negotiation begins. We cut. We agree. But nobody feels good about it. Not the side that cut, not the side that got cut.

At some point I realized: just give them options. Two tiers, three tiers, Plan A and Plan B. Let the client choose.

I read Sheena Iyengar's "The Art of Choosing" some time after that. There was an experiment in a nursing home. One group of residents got to decide how to arrange their furniture, take care of a plant, choose which night to watch a movie. Trivial choices. That group was more active, more social, and 18 months later, their mortality rate was much lower than the group whose staff handled everything. The choices were small. But the feeling of having chosen kept people alive.

It's not about whether you actually have control. It's about whether you perceive that you do. Even animals are the same way.

Once I started including options in estimates, the dynamic changed. Clients compare plans, evaluate trade-offs themselves, and choose. I'm not steering them. Every plan is designed so I can deliver whichever they pick. But the fact that they chose changes their sense of buy-in. Win rates went up.

The jam experiment is the interesting part. Iyengar set up a tasting booth at a supermarket. Some days, 24 varieties. Other days, 6. The large display drew more people. But the small display sold ten times more. Too many choices backfire.

Estimates work the same way. Line up five or six plans and the client freezes. Two or three. That's the limit. You give options to hand over a sense of control. Not to drown them in choices.

As for me, inside a repository I feel in control. In life, I don't.