The cost of doing nothing, in euros

The short answer

Price the quarter in which nothing moves. It has two parts. The margin the company would have earned from the next step, which is lost for good every quarter it waits. And the value at exit that the step would have added, which waits with it and gets harder to earn as the exit gets closer. Put that number at the top of the board pack, beside the plan.

Why it matters now

Every excess return fades unless something stops it. Competitors copy, customers renegotiate, technology changes. Standing still is a decision, and it has a price.

How to do it

1. Take the next step on each priced move. What the company earns at its current margin, and at the margin one step up.
2. Divide the yearly difference by four. That is the margin lost per quarter of waiting, and it never comes back.
3. Add the exit value that waits. The enterprise value the step would add, and the months left in the hold to earn it.
4. Show both beside every decision deferred. "Deferred to next quarter" becomes a figure.
5. Report it every quarter. The number falls as moves land, which is the point.

What good looks like

SIMULATION, an invented company.

Where it goes wrong

• Waiting is treated as free. It is the most expensive option nobody priced.
• The figure is used as pressure. It is a fact for a decision, never a sales line.
• Only the margin is counted. The value at exit is usually the larger number.

The instrument

A MakersOS room computes what the next step is worth in margin each year and in the multiple at exit, on the company's own numbers, and shows what a quarter of waiting costs on the page the room opens on.