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¶ Abandon
¶ What it is
When key “Make or Break” assumptions have been invalidated. No good/consistent pivot can be found, or too many assumptions, in general, have been invalidated to Iterate or Pivot the concept towards a place where it makes sense and is comprehensive; the team will need to decide to abandon that concept altogether and stop executing against it in any way.
¶ Why it is useful
As the saying goes, it is not useful riding a dead horse. Once we learn conclusively that the horse is dead, it is the most efficient use of resources to stop riding it.
¶ When to use it
Whenever too many key “Make or Break” assumptions have been invalidated, or the team does not find a way to Iterate or Pivot the concept to a space in which it is consistent and valuable for the uncovered reality, the Abandon choice is the last option.
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¶ How is it done
- When your experiments show that several “Make or Break” assumptions are incorrect. You cannot Pivot your way out of that corner, or so many experiments show that many of your assumptions are wrong. If you cannot Iterate or Pivot your way forward, consider abandoning the concept.
- Hold a meeting to discuss with the team what has been learned, what has been explored and why you believe Abandon is the only reasonable choice.
- If all agree and no suitable alternative is found, conclude to stop working with this concept.
- Properly archive all your work in the data room and all the learning you have done to ensure that future teams looking at similar or adjacent spaces can leverage the work that has been done and know what to be careful of.
¶ Do's & Don't
Do's
- Explore all Iterate and Pivot options before choosing Abandon.
- Properly document and archive all your work.
- Ensure your learnings are structured so that other people in the future can leverage the insights generated.
Don't
- Please don’t jump the gun on choosing to Abandon a concept, but don’t drag it out too much, either. Knowing when to move on is an art.
¶ Tools needed
- Whiteboard (physical or virtual)
- Post-it notes (physical or virtual)