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Daily build note · October 9, 2026

Cost of Delay

Put a weekly dollar (or hour) cost on delaying a decision or ship — watch the meter tick and copy a delay receipt.

Personal Utilities Interactive demo live Static HTML/CSS/JS

What shipped

Cost of Delay turns a slipped ship date or open decision into a visible meter. You name the delayed thing, set a weekly cost in USD revenue, USD burn, or hours, pick the planned date and the current expected date, and the demo computes days slipped, accrued cost so far, and projected total if it lands on the expected date. A status chip flips among ON TRACK / SLIPPING / HEMORRHAGING (0 days, 1–13 days, 14+ days). Copy a markdown delay receipt with the dates, amounts, status, and notes. State saves in localStorage under cost-of-delay-v1.

How to try

  • Open the live demo and tap SaaS feature launch — planned two weeks ago, expected five days out, $8,500/wk revenue. The meter should show red HEMORRHAGING (19 days slipped: planned two weeks ago, expected five days out) with accrued cost mid-slip.
  • Try Hiring freeze ($3,200/wk burn) or Vendor migration / Website relaunch to see burn vs revenue framing.
  • Move the expected date further out and watch days slipped, accrued, and projected total climb; flip unit to hours for an eng-capacity framing.
  • Copy the markdown receipt and paste it into a standup note or decision thread.

Why this (vs neighbors)

Distinct from Meeting Burn Rate (cost of people sitting in a room right now) and Kill Criteria (stop conditions for a bet). Cost of Delay is about the calendar slip itself: every week you wait has a price, and the meter makes that price hard to ignore.

Scope trim

No compounding interest, no probability-weighted options value, no multi-item portfolio. One delayed thing at a time. Weekly cost is a flat estimate you supply — the app does not pull from finance systems or calendars.

Limitations

  • Accrued cost assumes linear daily burn of the weekly rate (days/7 × weekly). Real revenue and burn are lumpy.
  • Status thresholds (0 / 1–13 / 14+) are opinionated heuristics, not industry standards.
  • Preset amounts and relative dates are illustrative, not measured from a live product.

Suggested next steps

  1. Track a small portfolio of delayed items with a ranked total-cost view.
  2. Optional confidence slider so projected cost can show a range instead of a point.
  3. Export a shareable deep-link (query string) so a receipt can reopen the same scenario.