There is a tide in the affairs of men.
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Brutus
Julius Caesar Act
4
Now in the project business, we might rewrite Shakespeare this way:
Of course, we may only be able to put down an option to hold the right to take the opportunity at a future time, perhaps a little off the flood tide, but nonetheless a good deal.There will be opportunities in the lifecycle of projectsWhich, taken at their moment, lead on to fortune in the business
And, options, as a strategy for opportunity, isn't that hard to understand:
- The idea is to put a little down now to preserve the right but not the obligation of doing something later. That is the situation with event chains and rolling wave plans.
- Anything you do or put down might be a throw away if you do not exercise the option. So, your option is sunk cost; it should be a small investment (money or other) compared to the opportunity cost of doing something else.
