What it takes to close the gap
The scale of the work behind a priority, before anyone commits to it.
Last updated September 22, 2026
Knowing you are not ready is half an answer. The other half is what it would take, and that is the question a board asks immediately afterward.
The estimate
For a priority with confirmed mappings, Pytheus assembles the work implied by the gaps: which capabilities need to move, how far, and what that involves. You get a view of the scale of the commitment before anyone signs up to it.
Treat it as a planning input
An estimate is derived from your assessment and your mappings. It is a reasoned starting point for a conversation with finance, not a quote and not a commitment. If it looks wrong, the usual cause is upstream: a capability assessed optimistically, a required level set higher than the outcome really needs, or a mapping nobody reviewed.
The honest use of this number is to establish an order of magnitude and to force the tradeoff conversation early, while there is still room to change the plan.
Keeping it current
An estimate reflects the assessment behind it at the time it was made. As capabilities improve, the remaining work shrinks. Revisit it when your assessment changes materially rather than treating the first number as fixed.
Next: Frameworks behind a priority.