Opportunity Cost Minimization
"You should stop doing work that simply provides a positive return on investment and start focusing on work that minimizes opportunity cost." — Shreyas Doshi
What It Is
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.
When To Use
-
Quarterly planning and roadmap prioritization
-
When team keeps filling roadmaps with "low-hanging fruit"
-
When strategic bets are being neglected for quick wins
-
To break the cycle of incrementalism
The Problem with ROI
Impact
ROI = ───────── Time
The formula incentivizes: ❌ Quick, small things (reduce denominator) ❌ Easy wins that don't compound ❌ Avoiding hard, high-impact work
Core Principles
- The ROI Trap
ROI formula incentivizes doing quick, small things rather than hard, big things.
- Define Allocation Buckets
Use a framework like:
-
60% Incremental improvements
-
30% Big bets / strategic investments
-
10% Infrastructure / technical debt
- The Right Question
Ask: "Is this the optimal use of time?" NOT: "Is this a good use of time?"
How To Apply
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%
Common Mistakes
❌ 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
Real-World Example
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