The Unrecoverables

       Time, Revenue and (Almost) Marketshare
            Mark Taylor, Collaborator, Lean-Agile Business Practice

    In every type of business there are three areas where missed opportunity can never be recovered: sunk time, missed revenue, and - nearly always - lost marketshare.

    Simple math:
 (Expected average selling price X Number of expected units/month) X The number of months over planned launch date = Unrecoverable revenue. 

    Add to that the delay in launching the next product or enhancement because resources were needed to finish the last over schedule project and the unrecoverable time and revenue loss just gets bigger.  Oh, and let’s not forget marketshare loss.  Lost marketshare can be recovered, but at significant cost; and the resources spent there detract from market growth efforts.

What to do?  Here’s a few to-do’s that have worked for me.
1. ID and eliminate bottlenecks
    a. SW<>HW
    b. Dev<> QA
    c. Market requirements<>Dev
2. ID and remedy malfunctions
    a. Marketing, “That’s not what I asked for.” Development,         “That’s what your M/PRD said.”
    b. “We’ll let selected customs see it at beta test.”
    c. “You heard about WHAT 2 months ago!?!”
3. ID and resolve behavioral Issues
    a. It’s all their fault
    b. This is the way we’ve always done it
    c. It’s all about me
    d. “Yes I can do that, yes I have the time, yes I know it’s             next in the backlog, but no one told me to do it.”

What have been your avoid-the-unrecoverables to-do list?