Base120 · Inversion
Opportunity Cost Focus
Evaluate options by what must be forgone rather than what is gained
When to use
"Use when evaluating options by what they gain. Reframe to evaluate by what they cost — what must be given up. Opportunity cost makes hidden trade-offs visible."
Example
"A team chooses to build a custom analytics dashboard (gain — full control, tailored features). Opportunity cost — the 3 engineer-months could have been spent on the core product roadmap. The question becomes — is the custom dashboard worth more than the roadmap items it displaces?"
Common misuse
"Counting only direct costs (money, time) and ignoring opportunity costs (what else could have been done). A project that is under budget and on time can still be a failure if the forgone alternative was more valuable."