At University I came across a phrase that’s stuck with me: “Don’t throw good money after bad.” It’s when leaders are so invested in a project or strategy that they keep throwing more (good) money at it even though it’s clearly a waste. Challenges and failures pile up with little progress.
Apple pulled the plug on its self-driving car division. Nokia sold itself to Microsoft. There is always a point when leaders must recognize that it’s time to abandon an initiative that’s just not working.
We often attribute these failures to technical issues, but they are just as often the result of people’s capacity for change.
I was on a project rolling out some major technical changes that field personnel had been crying out for over many years. And yet, as we closed in on the deployment of those changes, they pleaded with us to delay at minimum, and preferably end the project. Why? The project had to be rolled out in phases (a big bang approach was not technically feasible) and the interim phase would INCREASE the workload of employees. There was no additional capacity to handle the work, and proceeding would put their core business at risk.
STOP!
The client was unable to add capacity (more people) to offset the impact sufficiently, so the work stopped. And stayed stopped.
Similar to the ill billionaire who decides to freeze themselves to wait for medicine to catch up with their disease, organizations sometimes need to press pause until better solutions arise.
Every project must have checkpoints to determine whether proceeding makes sense; whether investing more good money will generate the expected returns. Companies typically focus on the technical aspects of the work but don’t limit yourself. Ask your team:
- How are our key resources holding up? Are they getting tired or exhibiting signs of exhaustion and burnout?
- What are other stakeholders saying about the project? Are they looking forward to the results or predicting its demise?
- Are middle managers endorsing the project to generate support? If they are not on board, no one will be.
Not every project is a winner. It makes no sense to keep throwing good money after bad. Check in with your people to ensure it’s money well spent.
Thoughtfully yours,
Jeff Skipper
