Don’t change the dog food without talking to the dog – In other words, do not go to the market with your new product or service (or change the existing one) before you fully understand what the customer wants. (Note: Do not ever let the customer know you’re referring to him or her as a dog.) It can also describe making personnel policy changes that might adversely affect employees without thinking through the changes first.
 

Use: “We knew we had changed the dog food without talking to the dog after sales plunged on our revamped formula, which we had not consumer tested well enough.”

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