The basic principles of life cycle costing (LCC) have long been recognized yet the history of subsequent achievement has been disappointing. The author believes much of this lack of progress can be attributed to the two topics discussed in this paper: the problems involved in providing credible estimates and misunderstandings concerning the utility of LCC, used in isolation, to inform decisions. Drawing an analogy with operational research suggests the need for LCC practitioners to pay particular attention to understanding the nature of the management problem being addressed and to base their estimates on empirical, and auditable, data.