Teams waste money and morale by keeping failing products alive; the article shows a kill-or-commit framework that forces leaders to measure opportunity cost and cut loss quickly.
Most products fail not because they are broken but because nobody stops them. The sunk-cost fallacy keeps teams double-downing on work that no longer delivers value, draining budget, focus, and morale. The real cost is the opportunity lost to higher-impact work.
Test Double cites two client cases: a tool that cost $84,000 per month was replaced with a $1,500 dashboard, freeing millions in annual savings; another logistics app was shut down in favor of a simple Tableau dashboard, saving $85,000 per month while improving decision-making. These examples illustrate how unchecked spending on dead products hurts the whole organization.
The kill-or-commit framework asks three questions: would we build this today if we weren't already invested; what is the real opportunity cost; and what does the data actually tell us. Answering them forces teams to surface hidden assumptions and focus on outcomes rather than sunk spend.
Mapping tools such as assumption mapping, user-journey mapping, and empathy mapping help surface hidden risks and clarify where value exists. By visualising the full picture, leaders can see when a product should be retired and resources reallocated.
Test Double offers Product Maturity Assessments to identify where product strategy stalls and to help teams make the hard calls. Technical leaders who apply this framework can protect their teams from burnout, improve decision-making, and redirect effort toward work that truly moves the business forward.
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