The Intersection 002

Erin Wright
Apr 29
3 min read

We talk a lot about the pressure to move faster.

But there’s another pressure we don’t always name: the pressure to keep going.

That second pressure is harder to spot.

It shows up as momentum. As sunk cost.

As the voice that says, "We didn’t come this far to come this far."

Real leadership — and real strategy — isn’t just about building momentum.

It’s about knowing when to break it.

✨ Subscribe to our Newsletter on LinkedIn! ✨

The Stress Test

You have a roadmap. You have a strategy. You’ve got leadership and internal alignment, plans have been drawn out, and you've made a deck circulating your North Star.

But then:

A key stakeholder leaves
A new line of business is introduced
A feature becomes suddenly urgent
A major funder changes direction

This isn’t failure. It’s reality. The tension isn’t whether short-term pressures will show up — it’s how you respond when they do.

Do you throw out your roadmap? Sneak in some scope creep under the guise of "urgency"? Deprioritize your longer term goals in the name of quick wins?

Real strategy isn’t about avoiding change. It's knowing how to move through it — not just reacting, but responding with purpose.

The Playbook

When priorities shift, it’s not just a strategic risk — it’s an operational one.

Decisions made in response to short-term pressures can ripple across architecture, performance, and scalability. The cost isn’t always immediate, but it shows up in rework, disconnected systems, and complexity that drags down delivery.

Next time the rug — or the roadmap — gets pulled out from under you, don’t panic. Instead:

1. Ask the Hard Question

When a short-term need arises, ask: "What part of our long-term vision does this support?"

If the answers unclear, don't built it yet. It's either a distraction or a sign that your strategy needs a second look.

2. Build in Flexibility

Don't overdesign. Rigid systems age quickly.

Platforms like Salesforce or ServiceNow reward modular thinking, reuse, and iteration - not over-customization you can't unwind later.

3. Don't Rush

Not everything needs to happen now. Divide work into:

Now → critical
Next → shape it
Later → still valid, not urgent

This lets you say “yes, but not yet” and avoid panic that can derail the bigger picture.

4. Normalize Realignment

Make realignment part of the process. Schedule regular checkpoints to ask:

What’s shifted?
What assumptions are no longer true?
What's worth rethinking?

→ Still curious? Read more of our thoughts here

Change mid-project shouldn’t be a surprise.

Entropy is a natural part of any system — left alone, things tend toward disorder because there are far fewer ways to stay in order than to fall out of it.

That’s the whole point of tactical projects: to move toward something better, something more ordered.

So when priorities shift, don’t treat it as a failure of planning. Rather as a sign that the environment is alive and evolving.

It’s about adapting thoughtfully without losing the thread of what you're really trying to create. And often, it leads to a better, more resilient outcome than what was first imagined.

- Nikola Njegovan, ODNOS Co-Founder and Managing Partner