Bill Canady argues that organizations waste time on loud, dramatic problems instead of high-impact ones. Rank initiatives by dollar value of contribution recovered plus capacity recovered, priced at loaded rate. Focus on the top three items that actually move the needle.
Step 2, pick the top 3 by dollars, not by drama. In every room I've ever been in, the loudest item is not the biggest item. The loudest item is the one with the best story attached. The customer who yells, the product line somebody's proud of, the process fight 2 VPs have been having for 3 years. Drama is a terrible ranking criteria. It selects for the item with the most emotional energy around it. That's not always the one you care about. People just get, you know, fired up about things. And when it's usually the item with the sunk cost is highest and the payback is worse. So rank it by dollars, contribution recovered plus capacity recovered priced at your loaded rate. 2 top 3, 2 or 2, 2 or the top 3. That's your program. Everything else wastes. Go get those. They're big. It'll move the needle.
