“What do we protect?” over “What do we cut?”

Jason Yip
Apr 5, 2024

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Reducing the number of “priorities” that an organization is working on is often the correct thing to do, but it’s difficult because it feels like you’re losing something that you previously had (aka loss aversion). “What do we cut?” feels like a loss, even if, in actuality, it will lead to better results.

Instead of the “what do we cut?” framing, I find “what do we protect?” to be more effective. You’re essentially redirecting the loss aversion to the top priorities for the organization.

A set of prioritised efforts. “What do we cut?” focuses loss aversion on the lower priority items. “What do we protect?” focuses loss aversion on the higher priority items.
“What do we protect?” redirects loss aversion

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Jason Yip

Senior Manager Product Engineering at Grainger. Extreme Programming, Agile, Lean guy. Ex-Spotify, ex-ThoughtWorks, ex-CruiseControl