RA-10
Precious Resource Protection Score
Resource Allocation
Default severity: medium
PrioritizationProcessOutputRiskEffort
What it detects
Computes a composite \'precious resource\' score per team member that quantifies their irreplaceability and the delivery risk if they become unavailable. Combines: critical path dependency (RA-01), skill silo ownership (RA-06), worklog dominance across epics (RA-02), and WIP load (RA-03). The score is used to rank resources by risk and highlight them in the Sankey diagram.
Detection formula
FOR each_person P: critical_path_share(P) = person_share_of_critical_path(P) // RA-01 output skill_silo_count(P) = COUNT(skill areas where P is sole owner) // RA-06 output epic_dominance_count(P) = COUNT(epics where P has >40% worklog share) // RA-02 output current_wip(P) = COUNT(active_assigned(P)) // RA-03 output precious_score(P) = ( critical_path_share(P) * config.ra.precious_weight_critical_path // default: 40 + MIN(skill_silo_count(P), 5) / 5 * config.ra.precious_weight_skill_silo // default: 30 + MIN(epic_dominance_count(P), 4) / 4 * config.ra.precious_weight_epic_dom // default: 20 + MIN(current_wip(P) / config.ra.person_wip_limit, 2) / 2 * config.ra.precious_weight_wip // default: 10 ) // score 0.0 - 1.0 IF precious_score(P) > config.ra.precious_flag_threshold // default: 0.65 THEN FLAG precious_resource_at_risk IF precious_score(P) > config.ra.precious_critical_threshold // default: 0.80 THEN CRITICAL — loss of this person would halt delivery Report: ranked precious resource list; knowledge transfer recommendationsExamples in practice
- One person owns a disproportionate share of critical-path or high-WIP work.
- Delivery risk rises when a single expert becomes the throughput bottleneck.
- A team shows computes a composite \'precious resource\' score per team member that quantifies their irreplaceability and the delivery risk if they become unavailable while precious weight critical path is set to 40 + MIN(skill_silo_count(P), 5) / 5 * config.ra.precious_weight_skill_silo.
Suggested response
Reduce single points of failure—spread critical skills and lighten overloaded contributors.
Coaching playbook
Symptom
Computes a composite \'precious resource\' score per team member that quantifies their irreplaceability and the delivery risk if they become unavailable. Combines: critical path dependency (RA-01), skill silo ownership (RA-06), worklog dominance across epics (RA-02), and WIP load (RA-03). The score is used to rank resources by risk and highlight them in the Sankey diagram.
Why it matters
When "Precious Resource Protection Score" keeps appearing, the team is signalling a repeatable process gap. Left unexamined, the pattern hides where work really stalls and makes improvement metrics harder to trust.
What you can achieve
Reduce single points of failure—spread critical skills and lighten overloaded contributors.
Facilitation questions
- What system change would stop "Precious Resource Protection Score" from firing again?
- What do the cited issues have in common — same root cause or same workaround?
- Who owns the two-week experiment and how will we verify on the next import?
Run this rule against your own tracker data with Flow Analyzer.