Planning for 2027: How to Choose Between Competing Growth Projects
An expansion, a new offering and a key hire can all be worthwhile. When planning for 2027, compare their cash requirements, demands on your team and conditions for success first. Then fund a sequence of growth projects the business can actually support.
Annual planning gets difficult when several good ideas arrive together. Managers advocate useful projects, commercial opportunities look credible and the budget may allow an initial commitment. Yet the same people will often be needed on several initiatives. Cash available in January does not establish whether June collections will cover everything committed in between.
The first strategic planning task is to make the options comparable. Expected returns are only part of the decision. Understand what each project needs from the business before it produces its first useful result.
Start with three projects. For each, record the intended outcome, target customer, spending before launch, monthly cash outflows and people whose involvement is essential. Separate confirmed information from estimates. An expression of interest and a signed order do not support the same commitment.
Add the date when you can observe an initial piece of evidence: a paid sale, a completed delivery or a measured cost. A project that depends on several assumptions may still be attractive. The important step is to make those assumptions visible and testable before increasing your exposure.
Include the hours required from key people, even when their salaries already appear in the budget. A sales leader’s or owner’s time does not become available simply because a project requires no additional hiring. Compare the demand with existing commitments and protect the activities that currently support service and collections.
When two projects need the same skill at the same time, examine their sequence. One may create capacity needed by the other. It may also absorb that capacity longer than expected. Put this dependency into the schedule rather than leaving each project to negotiate for attention after approval.
LEGO’s 2004 annual report describes a renewed focus on the core of its brand and the goal of restoring profitability. The case is a useful reminder to examine the choice of activities alongside their complexity. It does not establish a universal formula for a smaller business. [1]
For each option, identify the smallest step that produces useful information: customer conversations, a capacity check or a limited first delivery. Define its cost, owner and next decision. A test is valuable only when its outcome can change what you do.
Then build a less favorable scenario: sales arrive later, collections slip or an essential team member becomes unavailable. Review the effect on total company cash with your finance lead. Preserve a reserve appropriate to existing obligations and the actual variability of the business. Include commitments already made, not just spending that has reached the bank account.
| Question | Information to record | Decision it supports |
|---|---|---|
| Intended outcome | Measurable effect and date | Why commit to this project? |
| Cash committed | Outflows before customer receipts | What funding is required? |
| Capacity needed | People and available hours | When can work begin? |
| Critical assumption | Missing evidence and how to obtain it | What should be tested? |
| Dependency | Prerequisite project or condition | What should happen first? |
Use the worksheet to prepare the discussion. It does not replace financial or commercial analysis. Avoid an overall score that hides an essential condition. A missing approval or unavailable capability cannot be offset by an attractive score elsewhere.
Classify the projects as launch, test or defer. Record the reason, accountable person and next review date for each choice. A deferred project needs an identifiable condition for reconsideration. Otherwise it will continue to consume attention without moving forward.
Within a week, bring the three project owners together with finance. Produce a common brief, a capacity schedule and a consistent cash view. This creates a practical starting point for 2027: the resources needed, the evidence available and an explicit order of execution.
Mirabilys helps business leaders compare options, assess resource requirements and organize execution. If you are preparing several initiatives for 2027, a confidential conversation can help clarify which decisions need attention first.
- 1. LEGO Group, Annual Report 2004, section Management’s Report.
How many projects should we compare at once?
Start with three. Describe each one with the same brief: intended outcome, target customer, spending before launch, monthly cash outflows and the people whose involvement is essential.
Should each project get an overall score?
No. An overall score can hide an essential condition. A missing approval or unavailable capability cannot be offset by an attractive score elsewhere.
What should happen to a project we decide to defer?
Give it an identifiable condition for reconsideration, an accountable person and a review date. Otherwise it keeps consuming attention without moving forward.
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For owners of 1-20 M$ businesses. A fixed-fee mandate, identical for every client: six weeks, nine components.