Make stopping the default: periodically pause projects, meetings, and features unless a fresh business case proves they still add value, freeing teams from sunk-cost inertia.
Stopping becomes the default, not continuing. The article proposes automatically pausing every project, meeting series, and live feature at the end of each quarter or year unless a fresh business case justifies keeping it alive. This forces teams to ask, "Does this still deliver real value?" instead of riding the inertia of sunk cost.
A meeting cadence that auto-ends each quarter must be deliberately re-scheduled with a clear justification. Ongoing strategic projects are halted at year-end, and any production feature is removed unless usage data shows active adoption and measurable impact. The author admits this feels radical and will meet cultural resistance, because admitting a sunk effort looks like failure.
The payoff is a leaner organization: fewer pointless meetings, eliminated dead-weight features, and a clear signal that resources are allocated only to current priorities. Teams avoid burnout, decision-making sharpens, and the constant re-assessment creates a habit of data-driven prioritization.
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