Expensive decisions rarely look expensive.
They look small. Sensible. Done.
It gets expensive months later. A relaunch that takes twice as long. An account that eats budget and brings no orders. A job that is vacant again after a year.
Then the search begins. At the service provider. In the execution. In the team.
That is rarely where the cause lies.
Execution mostly did what had been decided. The deciding happened earlier. In a meeting that looked like routine. In a sign-off between two appointments. In a question nobody asked because it seemed too small.
Decided early. Paid for later.
What a project costs is largely set before the first invoice arrives. Whoever only looks once the costs are visible can only repair.
An offer nobody cut.
A goal nobody checked.
A responsibility nobody assigned.
Each harmless on its own. Together one of the most expensive items in the business, and it appears on no invoice.
That is why it pays to look where a decision still looks small.
There it costs a conversation.
Later it costs the project.