technique. Q5: Selma Bosco is on the capital budgeting committee for her company, Magnificent Tile. Bill Baumhauer is an engineer for the firm. Bill expresses his disappointment to Selma that a project that was given to him to review before submission looks extremely good on paper. "I really hoped that the cost projections wouldn't pan out," he tells his friend. "The technology used in this is pie in the sky kind of stuff. There are a hundred things that could go wrong. But the figures are very convincing. I haven't sent it on yet, though I probably should." "You can keep it if it's really that bad," assures Selma. "Anyway, you can probably get it shot out of the water pretty easily, and not have the guy who submitted it mad at you for not turning it in. Just fix the numbers. If you figure, for instance, that a cost is only 50% likely to be that low, then double it. We do it all the time, informally. Best of all, the rank and file don't get to come to those sessions. Your engineering genius need never know. H