hardBehaviouralScenarioSeniorStaffLead
How do you make the case for headcount or a platform investment, and what do you do about a stakeholder who keeps going around you?
5 min readUpdated 2026-08-15
Answer
Short answer
Ask for an outcome rather than for people, price the status quo in the currency the decider uses, and pre-wire the case before the forum. When someone bypasses you, treat it as evidence your intake is too slow rather than as an authority problem, and fix the front door first.
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Likely follow-ups
- Your platform investment cannot be attributed to revenue. How do you justify it?
- The answer is no. What do you do in the following week?
- Your engineer keeps taking the bypassed requests because they enjoy the visibility. What now?
- How do you decide when to escalate to the stakeholder's manager rather than keep working it directly?
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