Coming back to the Top-down (systems) design

The top-down design principle does more than identify poor practice. Accordingly, a system design effort should start by identifying the constituents for which the organization must produce outcomes, and that those outcomes are. It is from this work that the purpose, or design point, of the organization should be determined, not from an analysis of the company's existing capabilities. As a result, the design is "purpose down" rather than "capabilities up". (Haeckel)

This assertion from Haeckel is certainly true in project management. When determining what has to be accomplished at the end of the project (like the major deliverable or project result), most of the time, a lot of stakeholders propose some additional features and some 'nice to have' points. This is where the budget gets lost and where the problem are coming from.

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