Crafting Exceptional User Experiences

Every fall, I see the same pattern in mid-sized businesses: unspent budgets quietly sitting in accounts, waiting to disappear before the year ends.

Someone inevitably says it:

"We need to use it or lose it."

It's not strategic, but it's real. Most teams rush to spend the money on low-impact purchases — a few new tools, a half-finished campaign, or one more event sponsorship. Then January hits, and those dollars are gone, along with the opportunity to create momentum.

But there's a better move.

Instead of "using" the budget to spend it, use it to grow.

Step 1: Host a "Never Got To It" Brainstorm

Gather your leadership team (or department heads) and ask a straightforward question:

"What projects did we always talk about but never seem to get to?"

You'll get a mix of answers — product improvements, customer experience fixes, marketing ideas, process automation, training, or data clean-ups. Capture everything without judgment.

💬 Tip: Keep it to 15 minutes and use a whiteboard or shared doc — the goal is momentum, not perfection.

Step 2: Plot Each Idea on a Simple 2x2 Grid

Once you have your list, plot each idea based on:

• Impact – How much could this move the business forward if it worked?

• Ease – How quickly and easily could we test it with the available budget and people?

You'll end up with four quadrants:

Circle the top one or two "Quick Wins" — something meaningful, measurable, and doable before year-end.

Step 3: Fund One Pilot Project Now

Use your remaining budget to fund that small experiment — not as a throwaway, but as an early start to next year's priorities.

Define it like a sprint:

• Goal: What specific outcome will we test or prove?

• Budget: What can we reasonably spend without over-planning?

• Owner: Who will drive it to completion?

• Measure: How will we know it worked?

Even a modest pilot can create a valuable case study, energize your team, and set the tone for your 2026 plan.

Step 4: Lock in the Narrative

When you roll into January, don't present it as "last year's leftovers." Present it as next year's launch pad.

You didn't just preserve budget — you built innovation. You didn't just spend money — you bought momentum.

That's how you turn a year-end scramble into a springboard for growth.

⚡ Final Thought

Research shows that organizations rushing to spend budgets at year-end often deliver lower-quality outcomes — especially when projects are started in the final weeks of the fiscal cycle[1][2].

The smarter move is to redirect leftover funds into small, testable innovation pilots that build learning velocity and position your team for faster growth next year[3][4].

So, this week, block off 45 minutes. Run your "never got to it" brainstorm. Pick your pilot.

And spring into 2026 already in motion.

📚 Footnotes/Resources

[1]: Liebman, Jeffrey B. & Mahoney, Neale (2017). Do Expiring Budgets Lead to Wasteful Year-End Spending? Evidence from Federal Procurement. Harvard Kennedy School / National Bureau of Economic Research (Working Paper 23090). →https://www.nber.org/papers/w1948 1

[2]: National Bureau of Economic Research Digest (2014). Use-It-or-Lose-It Budget Rules. NBER Digest, March 2014. Read digest → https://www.nber.org/digest/mar14/use-it-or-lose-it-budget-rules

[3]: We Are Outcome (2022). Making Metered Funding Work in a World of Annual Budgets. Advocates for flexible, pilot-based "metered funding" to improve innovation velocity. Read article →https://weareoutcome.co/blog/making-metered-funding-work-in-a-world-of-annual-budgets

[4]: The Chronicle of Philanthropy (2021). Turning Unspent Budgets Into Vital Resources. Shows how organizations can convert unspent funds into cross-functional pilot projects and faster learning cycles. Read article →https://sponsored.chronicle.com/turning-unspent-budgets-into-vital-resources