Risks of Over-Prioritizing BAU or Strategic Initiatives ### Risks of Focusing Too Much on BAU - **Stagnation:** Lack of innovation can make a business vulnerable to market disruption and competition (See also [[The Innovator's Dilemma]]. - **Technical Debt Accumulation:** While BAU maintains operations, it may not address long-term scalability challenges. - **Employee Burnout:** Teams may feel uninspired if they work solely on maintenance tasks without opportunities for creative problem-solving. - **Missed Growth Opportunities:** Focusing only on sustaining existing processes may prevent businesses from capitalizing on emerging trends and technologies. ### Risks of Prioritizing Strategic Initiatives Over BAU - **Operational Instability:** Neglecting BAU can lead to system failures, security risks, and degraded user experiences. - **Customer Dissatisfaction:** Lack of focus on BAU tasks such as bug fixes and service reliability may frustrate existing users. - **Over-investment in Uncertain Returns:** Strategic projects are inherently risky, and over-prioritization may lead to wasted resources on initiatives that do not succeed. - **Short-Term Chaos:** Transitioning from one major initiative to another without maintaining core business functions can result in internal inefficiencies and confusion.