The Wake Behind Every Project

Most people evaluate a new program by its launch cost. That's the wrong number.

The real question is what it costs to keep running after launch. Every program is really its own ongoing P&L, and the biggest mistake I've seen leaders make (myself included) is underestimating the cost of sustainment.

Here's the trap. You launch something that works, but now it needs a manager, a process, an owner, reporting. Humans are the most expensive line item in any business, and most initiatives quietly become a permanent headcount request disguised as a one-time project.

The projects worth starting are the ones that blossom on their own.

1. Content. Customer-created content is the clearest example: once the mechanism exists, every new piece adds value without you lifting a finger. An editorial program is the opposite. Every new piece is another thing your team has to produce and maintain.

2. Software. Salesforce is only as valuable as the time your team invests feeding it. A DevOps or security tool, once set up, keeps protecting your systems with little ongoing attention. Same category, wildly different cost of staying valuable.

3. AI. Building an agent takes real time up front. Once it's built and working, the ongoing time cost can drop close to zero. This one is teaching me the lesson all over again.

It comes down to a number most people never calculate: LTC, life time cost. Everyone estimates LTV or runs an NPV model. Almost nobody estimates what it will cost, in time and attention, to keep getting that value out.

So before greenlighting anything, look at the wake behind it. If you can't cleanly finish the sentence "this will impact our bottom line because blank," it's probably a cost center wearing a project's clothes.

What's something in your org that looked cheap to launch but turned out expensive to sustain?