Guide · C95
Sequence the roadmap by cost of delay
Which order minimises lost value when several initiatives share the same resource?
Direct answer
Cost of delay per unit of duration compares the weekly loss with the work duration, then measures the total cost of each sequence.
01Change sequence, split an initiative or protect a resource according to the value lost.
02The rule, the evidence and the next review date stay visible.
How to use this
Move from the question to the deliverable.
Which order minimises lost value when several initiatives share the same resource?
Change sequence, split an initiative or protect a resource according to the value lost.
Two-sequence comparison
Calculation · SQ-95
Save €445k by changing only the order of the work
When four initiatives use the same resource, the order must minimise the value lost while waiting, not respect the order of arrival.
Fictitious case: a marketing ops team executes four work packages that cannot be run in parallel, with no dependency between them.
- 01Cost
Estimate the value lost per week of delay for each package.
- 02Divide
Relate that cost to the net duration consumed on the constrained resource.
- 03Sequence
Rank the packages by decreasing cost of delay per unit of duration.
- 04Compare
Calculate the total cost of the sequence retained and of the reference order.
Order of arrival against cost of delay per duration
The economic sequence starts with the price evidence and then tracking; it almost halves the total loss.
Priority = weekly cost of delay ÷ duration; sequence cost = Σ (cost of delay × finish week)| Work package | Duration | Cost / week | Index | FIFO finish | Optimised finish | Gain |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing evidence | 2 wk | €45k | 22.5 | W11 | W2 | €405k |
| Tracking | 3 wk | €32k | 10.7 | W9 | W5 | €128k |
| Onboarding | 2 wk | €18k | 9.0 | W6 | W7 | −€18k |
| Content | 4 wk | €10k | 2.5 | W4 | W11 | −€70k |
| Total | 11 wk | — | — | €931k | €486k | €445k |
01Content moves back by seven weeks, but its additional loss of €70k frees €533k across the other three packages.
02The price evidence comes first because its cost of delay per week of work is more than twice as high.
03The rule applies only after dependencies, fixed dates and parallelisation options have been taken into account.
Fictitious case. The cost of delay is a decision estimate to be framed by a range, not an accounting value.
Coherence controls
Minimum conditions before validation.
The status, the evidence and the owner must be available for review.
The status, the evidence and the owner must be available for review.
The status, the evidence and the owner must be available for review.
The status, the evidence and the owner must be available for review.
Usable deliverable
Two-sequence comparison
Explore the decision further with an interactive control, or start from a structured template to produce your deliverable.