Do you really need a budget?

Budgets are many things to many people. For most people, they are a way to keep score. Who has a bigger budget? How can you take money from someone else's budget? However, what if you didn't need a budget?

In an advanced analytics and AI team, you really do not need a discretionary budget. Of course, you need money to pay for salaries, incentive compensation, desks, office space, travel and entertainment, and setting up your team with the appropriate technologies, but after you have the team hired, the infrastructure built, and the software installed, do you need a big or any additional budget to be effective and to deliver results? Trust me, you don't.

I have had multiple roles where budgets were tight. Actually, I am having a hard time recalling where budgets were freewheeling and we were let free to spend whatever we wanted. The point is that budgets are always controlled and restricted.

Since the advanced analytics and AI...