What is the moral of this story?

[silentrunning]

Many years ago there was a very rich man who loved apples. He loved them so much that he went to Michigan State University?s Agriculture Department and told them he would bequeath one million dollars if they could come up with the perfect apple tree.
Several years went by and finally the University called the man and announced that they had developed the perfect apple tree. Excitedly he hurried to the school and was taken to an orchard to see ?his? tree. It was perfect. It was perfectly shaped with dark green leaves. There wasn?t a bare spot on the tree and it was loaded with the most beautiful bright red apples the man had ever seen.
He ran up to the tree and exclaimed, ?I can?t wait to taste one of these apples!?. ?OH NO! You can?t eat the fruit, it tastes terrible? the University horticulturalist told him. Indignantly the rich man asked why. ?You said you wanted the perfect tree. You didn?t say anything about the fruit? was the reply.

Please - no MSU jokes.

 

[Ajit Basrur]

You get what you ask for !

You should be "perfect" in specifying your requirements !

Clear communications !

 

[somashekar]

Perfection is relative and not absolute ~~~

 

[Michael_M]

Reality is perception. What one person see's as 'perfection', another see's as flawed.


Ajit Basrur and somashekar got to my real answers first.

 

[silentrunning]

I took away that sometimes you can do exactly what the customer specifies and still not have customer satisfaction. I'm sure it has something to do with 7.2.2 or 7.2.3 of ISO 9001.

 

[somashekar]

I took away that sometimes you can do exactly what the customer specifies and still not have customer satisfaction. I'm sure it has something to do with 7.2.2 or 7.2.3 of ISO 9001.

It has. The stated, unstated, implied and statutory / regulatory requirements are to be considered and confirmed with the customer before getting down to business.
Perfect apple tree ... stated requirement.
other expectations ... ?
Big apples, juicy apples, red apples, green apples, ...unstated
Perfect apple tree must bear edible apple ... implied
Is it legitimate in Michigan State to genetically create such a perfect apple tree ... regulatory

 

[Randy]

The moral?....Eat more 'Possum!

 

[harry]

Hoping to win a fight with nature is a 'fat' hope!

 

[BradM]

Quality is different things to different people.

 

[Ronen E]

You can't trust rich people.