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Stop optimizing for positive ROI and start focusing on minimizing opportunity cost—choosing the BEST possible use of time, not just a good one. Use during quarterly planning and roadmap prioritization.
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基于 SOC 职业分类
| name | Opportunity Cost Minimization |
| description | Stop optimizing for positive ROI and start focusing on minimizing opportunity cost—choosing the BEST possible use of time, not just a good one. Use during quarterly planning and roadmap prioritization. |
"You should stop doing work that simply provides a positive return on investment and start focusing on work that minimizes opportunity cost." — Shreyas Doshi
In high-leverage roles, there are infinite tasks with positive ROI. Focusing on ROI leads to picking small, quick wins. Instead, focus on minimizing opportunity cost—choosing the best possible use of time, not just a good one.
Impact
ROI = ─────────
Time
The formula incentivizes:
❌ Quick, small things (reduce denominator)
❌ Easy wins that don't compound
❌ Avoiding hard, high-impact work
ROI formula incentivizes doing quick, small things rather than hard, big things.
Use a framework like:
Ask: "Is this the optimal use of time?" NOT: "Is this a good use of time?"
STEP 1: List All Candidate Projects
STEP 2: Calculate Naive ROI
└── "Quick win: 2x return in 2 weeks = 1.0 ROI"
└── "Strategic bet: 10x return in 6 months = 0.83 ROI"
STEP 3: Ask Opportunity Cost Question
└── "If we do the quick win, we WON'T do the strategic bet"
└── "What's the cost of NOT doing the strategic bet?"
STEP 4: Evaluate 2-Year Impact
└── Quick wins: Often forgotten
└── Strategic bets: Compound over time
STEP 5: Force Allocation
└── Mandate X% of roadmap = strategic bets
└── Don't let quick wins consume 100%
❌ Prioritizing "quick wins" because they're easy to justify
❌ Measuring team output by number of shipped features
❌ Neglecting difficult strategic bets that require longer timelines
At Stripe, Shreyas shifted focus from small incremental fixes (positive ROI) to a massive, scary refactor of marketplace payments (Connect) because the opportunity cost of not doing it was huge.
Source: Shreyas Doshi, Lenny's Podcast
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