furtherfor

Furtherfor is a planning concept used in strategy, product development, and research to describe prioritizing investments that expand future options rather than focusing solely on immediate deliverables. The approach emphasizes foundational work—such as architecture, tooling, documentation, and modular design—that enables later projects to proceed more quickly, safely, or cheaply.

Origin and usage: The term is relatively new and appears mainly in management and software development discourse from the 2010s onward. It is sometimes described as a portmanteau of further and for, signaling intent to fund work for future purposes rather than current outputs. Its precise definition varies by organization, but the common thread is longer-term capability rather than short-term feature sets.

Applications: In product roadmaps, furtherfor translates into spare capacity for refactoring, infrastructure improvements, and research experiments. Teams might designate a portion of time or budget to improve scalability, testing, API stability, or to explore new technologies that could unlock future value. In open-source and research projects, furtherfor can appear as a commitment to maintain and extend core platforms rather than only delivering new features.

Reception: Proponents argue that furtherfor reduces technical debt, speeds future development, and improves resilience. Critics contend that the concept can be ill-defined and difficult to quantify, potentially obscuring accountability or delaying visible benefits.

See also: long-term planning, strategic investment, technical debt management, modular design.