How come "ressources" is suddently your problem??
If "the man" wants a job done, "the man" can effing well pay whatever it
really costs - or - decide that it is not worth doing at all. It is really
that easy. Your responsibility is to give some realistic numbers for that
deciesion; the easiest way to do that is to ask for some tenders - You
*cannot, ever* build a deployable one-off design any cheaper than the
stuff you can buy.
Hack a walkie, apply some cardboard, hotmelt glue, spraypaint and whatnot!
In My Experience what people like to see in demo's is "What this
product/technology can do for me?" and "WHY do we want this?" NOT the "How
is it done?". If one points out that one is cheating, then I.M.E. it is
totally accepted as long as one has an idea of the technical issues in
order of risk (riskiest goes first).
Your strategy is to stay well away from tasks that you cannot perform with
confidence!
All that really counts are the results - if you "cheat", go buy the stuff
and it works, what people will remember is: The Result, that the task was
handled and done successfully!
The exact same principle applies if you spend 1,5 years hacking some
barely working stuff up: people will remember that recall of the crummy
product made by that idiot designer (now looking for new challenges) for a
long time! Therefore, you cheat!!
