Good teams ship great products. Great teams kill bad ones.

Overview
This article explores why many products fail not due to technical flaws but because teams keep investing in them long after the value has diminished. It provides practical guidance for senior product managers and engineering leaders on how to identify the right moment to stop work on a failing product and reallocate resources.

Key Takeaways

• Recognize the warning signs that a product is no longer delivering value.
• Apply objective criteria and data to decide when to discontinue a product.
• Communicate the decision effectively to stakeholders to maintain trust.
• Reallocate resources to higher-impact initiatives quickly.
• Learn from the failure to improve future product discovery and validation processes.

Who Would Benefit

• Engineering managers overseeing product development teams.
• Senior product managers responsible for product portfolios.
• Technical leaders and CTOs making strategic investment decisions.
• Startup founders and CEOs navigating limited resources.
• Anyone involved in product lifecycle management.

Frameworks and Methodologies

• Lean product development
• Opportunity assessment matrices
• Cost-benefit analysis
• Post-mortem and retrospective practices