Doing something now that you didn't need to do; in order to potentially save an immeasurable amount of effort in the future...that, in my view, is the very essence of good software engineering.

You need to look up: Definition of IMMEASURABLE. : incapable of being measured; Which means that none (or negative saving) is equally possible as positive gains.

Then you need to study history. Start with recent history: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/07/bbc_ignored_dmi_warnings/, http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/09/20/fire_service_469_million_flop_caused_by_it_illiteracy/, http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/10/07/depts_dumped_deals_mod/, http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/09/nhs_tech_stopped/, http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/05/30/scr_review_call/, http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2010/03/22/dft_it_scrapped/, http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2009/07/17/scope_two_cancelled/ ...

The common theme in most of those, and almost all large projects cancelled after large expenditure of time effort and money, is taking 5 years to write software, planning for a life of 15+ years when the requirements will change out of all recognition in 3.

Those are UK because that's what I'm most familiar with, but I know the US government and military IT procurement history is no better. Always overreaching; trying to predict the future and plan for eventualities that will never arise.

And commerce -- global and local -- is equally strewn with IT projects that overreached their psychic powers and failed dismally when the future threw up everything except what their guts told them would come.

“Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it.”

I have to stop now we've reached the magical re:10 limit.