Accumulating Opportunity

If you want to make good decisions every day then you have to have a lot of good choices to draw from. Here we consider how to build that stockpile.

Programmers make decisions all day long. We can count the number of relevant decisions made in a day and think of that as velocity. Some percentage of velocity will include decisions providing lasting value, another percentage only short-term gain.

High velocity comes from those who make critical decisions quickly. We say that these decision makers are "on point" or "at the sharp end" recognizing that they are rarely the most senior or most privileged in an organization.

We recognize that decision makers often find themselves with no good alternatives. This is how it looks when the opportunity stockpile is low. Contrast this to the exhilaration when a company is at first a going concern and opportunity abounds.

We'll catalog moves that work on point and address the impact each has on later opportunities. Each move takes place in an environment so rich in detail that move selection must occur without complete analysis.

We hope to influence move selection such that the net stockpile of opportunity steadily grows. We don't expect our preferences to be recognized as the most expedient. We'll be satisfied if when applied one feels they are climbing out of a well.

three relationships to make the meaning for each idea.