Gather all requirements and resources before committing to the client!

This is cool e-mail I received from one of my friends. It just relates to our behavior of committing things to our client even before analyzing and gathering the requirements. Whenever a client ask "I want XYZ functionality. Will I get it?" and the immediate answer from the lead is "Yes Yes! Why not... ". After a couple of days (or months) we find that the words "Yes Yes! Why not... " have made our life miserable. Well, lets go on to the small story...

A new vacuum cleaner salesman knocked on the door on the first house of

the street. A tall lady answered the door.

Before she could speak, the enthusiastic salesman barged into the living
room and opened a big black plastic bag and poured all the cow droppings
onto the carpet.
"Madam, if I cannot clean this up with the use of this new powerful
Vacuum cleaner, I will EAT all this dung!" exclaimed the eager salesman.

"Do you need chilly sauce or ketchup with that" asked the lady.
The bewildered salesman asked, "Why, madam?"

"There's no electricity in the house..." said the lady.

MORAL: Gather all requirements and resources before working on any
project and committing to the client...!!!