Equation #16 · Chapter 7

Wedge Velocity V_w

V_w = \frac{Pain_{acute} \times Trust_{increment}}{Friction_{adopt}}

Wedge Velocity

V_w · Ch 7

(Acute pain × trust increment) ÷ adoption friction. If adoption needs procurement, your wedge is blunt.

Worked example — Ninety minutes, three schedulers, every morning

A tool that does in one minute what three schedulers currently do by hand for ninety. The pain is acute and daily. They can open it in a browser — no procurement, no IT ticket, no training.

It came out at 45. Green — far past the viral line of 4.

Now put it behind an SSO integration and a security review — friction 10 — and it reads 4.5. Technically still green, practically dead: you just turned a two-day adoption into a two-quarter one. Everyone scores their own wedge a 1. Score it honestly.

Your turn — change one number

Acute pain (0–10)9

Trust increment (0–10)5

Adoption friction (1–10)1

Result45.00

Green. Viral. The wedge plants itself — IT never sees it.