Every week of delay has a dollar cost. Once you calculate it, prioritization becomes obvious.
Cost of Delay = Lost revenue per week + competitive disadvantage + customer churn risk + opportunity cost.
Example: a feature expected to generate $100K/month in revenue, delayed by 3 months = $300K in direct cost of delay plus competitive window risk.
Use CoD for prioritization: WSJF (Weighted Shortest Job First) = Cost of Delay / Job Duration. Always do the highest-WSJF item first. This alone can improve engineering ROI by 20-40%.
Like this analysis?
Get the weekly engineering economics briefing — one email, every Monday.
Subscribe Free →A single bad engineering hire costs 3-5x their annual salary. Here's the math.
8 minBreaking down where engineering money actually goes — and where it should go.
10 minUnderstanding ASC 350-40 and how software development costs flow through your P&L.
11 minPublished Work
This article expands on ideas from my published work in CIO.com, Built In, Mind the Product, and HackerNoon. View published articles →
The Product Economist — Quantifying engineering economics for technology leaders, PE firms, and boards.