The Motorcade Method (new book) + Dollarize the Prize
Why I went quiet - I've got a new book ... coming august 2025.
Hello!
All things going to plan, I’ll be launching my next book in August. (Partly why I’ve been so quiet lately.)
It’s about what I’m now calling The Motorcade Method (formerly Stack the Deck) — my approach for:
helping business leaders,
deliver their VIP Agile projects,
on time, to aggressive dates.
I’ve spent an unreasonable number of hours shaping the framework and figuring out how to teach it properly. This one’s a sequel to Rolling Rocks Downhill. But it’s not a business novel, it’s more like a business manifesto hidden inside a short, punchy, fictionalised story.
It’s based on my real-life work, written to show how the method hangs together and why it works.
Think of it as what I say to clients behind closed doors — just without the swearing.
🙊
I’ve written it especially for leaders who look at their brilliant, world-class Agile teams and quietly think:
“Why can’t we deliver on time?”
Over the next few weeks, I’ll share more details about the method’s key moves.
Today, I want to introduce one of the method’s ACE moves:
“Dollarize the Prize.”
(Hope this helps!)
Dollarize the Prize
Before I get involved in any big project, we start by Dollarizing it.
Usually that starts in the sales conversation – because if it’s not worth hiring me, it’s - obviously - not worth hiring me.
That means asking:
How much money will this make if it works?
How will it make that money?
Where are the value cliffs?
Can we slice or restructure the work to get value sooner?
What’s the cost if it runs late or stalls?
What’s the best possible outcome? The worst?
And who actually knows these numbers?
And:
YTF are you doing this?
Actually, almost all of the questions above, are trying to answer the YTF question, just using rough, rough dollar values.
Most leaders can answer these questions … sort of.
But, after the project is launched, very few teams can.
But when they can - once they’ve figured out YTF they’re working on the project - everything changes.
The entire team starts making better commercial decisions.
I pull the dollarization conversation into my sales chats, because it’s good for me and it’s good for my customers.
It tells them whether hiring me makes sense.
It tells me whether I can make a real difference.
My mid-tier offer (a 10-week hands-on “course” for 1-3 people) costs $60,000. It’s only worth spending that much if the project is leaking hundreds of thousands a month.
Dollarizing helps everyone make better decisions, but especially in the early days.
The good news: you can do this without hiring a consultant!
Just keep the numbers rough. You can’t get them right. And the conversations you have while trying to get them to good-enough … are more valuable than the actual numbers.
It’s all about clarifying and communicating the YTF.
Hope you doing well. If you’re curious about this stuff, drop me a message (hitting reply is easiest). I’ll let you know if I think I can help — or not.
More to come.
Clarke
p.s. Hit reply! Say hello! It’s cold here today and I need warming up.