Sunk cost

Where the standard develops it

• SV-4Engineering economicsHeadcount, budget, cost of delivery, vendors, and build/buy/AI decisions.
• SV-3RoadmappingBalancing product delivery against platform and quality investment.

Related terms

Admission criteria

The written statement of how an initiative gets onto a department roadmap (expected contribution to stated outcomes, cost, risk, dependencies), so that a request is answered with the criteria rather than with a no.

Build, buy, or AI service

The three-way capability decision (build it, buy a product, or adopt an AI service), with each option weighed by the same questions: is this core, what is the lifetime cost, and where are we left if the provider or partner changes course?

Capacity allocation

A stated share of a team's capacity for platform, reliability and debt, held under pressure, so that foundational work is a decision rather than whatever is left over.

Charter

The explicit statement of what a team or department owns.

Core versus context

Build what differentiates the business in its customers' eyes (core), and buy or adopt the commodity (context) so engineers are free for differentiating work.

Horizon mix

The explicit split of an organisation's capacity between serving the current business, building the platform the strategy will need in a few years, and exploring what might disrupt everything.

Total cost of ownership

The full lifetime cost of a capability, meaning build cost plus maintenance forever, or purchase price plus integration, lock-in and exit.