Glossary term
Mandatory work
Work that must happen to meet legal, regulatory, contractual, security or operational obligations, even when it creates no visible growth.
Also known as: regulatory work, licence to operate work, non-discretionary work
Mandatory work protects the organisation's ability to keep operating.
It may include regulatory updates, security fixes, contractual commitments or essential maintenance. Because it often produces no new revenue or usage uplift, it can score poorly in feature prioritisation models. It should usually be planned as a capacity commitment rather than forced to compete with optional growth ideas.
