Constraints are the product
Strategy without constraints is storytelling. Real programs negotiate time, budget, hardware lead times, and the team's actual capacity — then choose the smallest bet that still moves the outcome.
Prioritization that survives Tuesday
We score work by outcome leverage and irreversibility: what unlocks learning, what locks architecture, and what can wait a release. Hardware realities often force earlier decisions than pure software teams expect.
- Separate learning bets from scale bets
- Name the constraint that is currently binding
- Re-rank when a constraint shifts — do not pretend the plan did
Clarity for stakeholders
The strategy artifact that matters is a shared cut line: what we will not do this quarter, and why. That conversation protects focus better than another roadmap slide.
