Why what gets built is determined less by priority—and more by who has the authority to insist
Backlogs don’t reflect importance. They reflect influence.
What gets built is rarely the result of clean prioritization frameworks. It is the output of competing incentives, uneven authority, and local optimization.
Most organizations believe they have a prioritization problem. They don’t. They have a power problem.
Prioritization is often framed as a rational exercise. Score the work. Rank the backlog. Align to strategy. Execute in order.
This model assumes decisions are made in a neutral system. They are not.
https://primamachina.substack.com/p/prioritization-is-power-allocation