Cost of Delay Calculator
When work slips, the loss is rarely abstract: a delayed feature forgoes the revenue or savings it would have produced once live. Cost of delay turns that loss into a dollar figure per week, which makes prioritization decisions far easier to defend. This calculator takes the weekly value of an initiative and the expected delay and reports the cost per week, the total cost over the delay window, and the cost per day. Every value is a user-editable input, so the result reflects your own conservative estimate rather than a generic assumption, and it pairs naturally with a WSJF priority score.
Cost of delay formula
Cost per week = value per week
Total cost of delay = value per week * delay weeks
Cost per day = value per week / 7
Cost per work hour = value per week / 40
This is a steady-rate model: it assumes the weekly value is constant across the delay window. Cost per day divides by seven calendar days; cost per work hour divides by a 40-hour work week so you can compare against effort estimates.
Using cost of delay well
- Express value per week conservatively in real dollars: added revenue, savings, or avoided penalties.
- Compare total cost of delay across initiatives to decide what genuinely cannot wait.
- Feed cost of delay into a WSJF score by dividing it by job size to rank a backlog.
- Revisit the estimate as you learn more; an early guess should not be treated as fixed.
- Balance urgency against quality: cutting delay at the expense of defects can cost more later.
Cost of delay: frequently asked questions
What is cost of delay?
Cost of delay is the economic value lost for each unit of time a valuable initiative is late. If a feature would earn or save a given amount per week once delivered, then every week it slips forward forgoes roughly that value. Cost of delay turns schedule decisions into money, which makes prioritization across competing work far clearer.
How do I estimate the value per week?
Value per week is a user-editable input because it is specific to your initiative. It can be added revenue, cost savings, avoided penalties, or risk reduction expressed in dollars per week. Use a conservative, defensible estimate. The calculator does not invent this figure: it multiplies the number you provide by the delay you enter.
How is total cost of delay calculated?
Total cost of delay is the value per week multiplied by the number of weeks of delay. If the value grows or shrinks over time, this linear estimate is an approximation. For most prioritization decisions a steady weekly value is a reasonable working assumption, and you can adjust the input to model a different scenario.
How does cost of delay relate to WSJF?
Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF) divides cost of delay by job size to rank work. Cost of delay is the numerator: the higher it is, the more urgent the work relative to its effort. If you are sequencing a backlog, pair this calculator with a WSJF score to decide what to do first.
Should I always rush to cut cost of delay?
Not blindly. Cost of delay measures the value of being on time, but rushing can raise defects, rework, and burnout, which carry their own costs. Use the figure to weigh urgency against quality and capacity, not as a mandate to cut corners on every initiative.
Official sources
- U.S. Small Business Administration: Manage your finances.
- Scaled Agile Framework: WSJF and cost of delay.
Reviewed by the CalculatorHub team, edited by James Graham, 17 June 2026. See our methodology.