Resource Allocation Under Constraint: A Framework for Executive Tradeoffs

Executive answer

Under constrained capacity, fund only initiatives with highest economic impact and manageable dependency drag. Most failures come from overcommitment and exception creep. Allocation discipline improves throughput, quality, and decision credibility.

CAP-Lock model

• Capacity-truth each function.
• Assess initiative economic yield.
• Penalize dependency complexity.
• Lock funded scope and swap rules.

Trigger scenario

Leadership has nine priorities and capacity for four. Deadlines slip and context switching rises.

Example

Team funds four initiatives, pauses five, and enforces swap-for-new-work policy.

Alternative that loses: partial staffing across all nine priorities, because nothing finishes cleanly.

Diagnostic checklist

• What is real capacity by team?
• Which work has highest economic yield?
• What dependency risks are hidden?
• What should be paused explicitly?
• Who enforces scope lock?

Cost of delay

Delay preserves overload and extends time-to-value across the portfolio.

Common mistakes

• Priority inflation.
• Ignoring dependency penalties.
• Exceptions without swaps.

When to seek external clarity

If executives cannot agree what to stop, external facilitation can force explicit tradeoffs and protect execution quality.

Bottom line

Allocation quality is defined by what you stop, not what you announce.