Definition:
This is an object, usually software, that promises something but can only deliver it when a lot of additional resources and other systems are bolted on, normally paid for by the customer.
Explanation:
Soup Stone is an existing term that comes from a European folk tale.
In this tale, a traveller or travellers convince either a old woman or a village that they have a magic stone that can produce soup. However this is a con. They get the villagers or old woman to actually make the whole soup by adding tonnes of ingredients one by one.
This tale has two interpretations:
- Is that if everyone works together they can produce amazing things.
- Don’t believe people who say something can produce amazing things without proof and that nothing is free.
In the corporate world, its the second interpretation that is most common, and is seen mainly in the form of something that promises everything and while the something indeed exists, 1 it doesn’t do what is advertised as without tonnes and tonnes of extra bits. This is most commonly seen in software systems, particularly a lot of the modern day cloud ones. So they may say our software does XXX, but it only does that because it’s hosted on AWS and takes advantage of their systems and you have to pay for the extra AWS systems, or that it has monitoring when all it does is allow other monitoring software 2 to interface to it. or it sends emails but it requires a separate mail server etc, etc, etc.
It’s when something is sold as doing something but requires lots of other systems to actually complete. In the worst case, you will be sold a single licence for a cloud subsystem in the hope of keeping everything on the cloud and end up with a bunch of local servers to deliver on that promise and leave you with twice the complexity you started with.
The only real way to combat this is to dig down in to the detail, arrange a workshop with your techs and get hard details on what supporting systems and licences are needed for your deliverables.
Disclaimer: As always these posts are not aimed at anyone client or employer and are just my personal observations over a lifetime of dealing with both management and frontline associates.