HBR Guides to Building Your Strategic Skills Collection (3 Books)

CHAPTER 19

Assess and Manage Trade-Offs

Even with clearly set priorities and a well-defined execution strategy, plans are naturally subject to change in the course of business. Consider the team working on a new product that is suddenly asked to speed up production to satisfy the needs of a major customer. Or the request to add new features to an app, when the development budget is almost maxed out. Deciding whether to adjust course on key objectives requires careful thought, and you’ll need to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of making a change. You need to manage trade-offs.

Making trade-offs involves understanding the real impact of your choice for your team, other departments, and the organization overall. Just because someone makes ...