Decide whether to kill, fix, or double down on a struggling initiative
An honest review of an underperforming product, market, or project that ends in a clear call and next steps.
The prompt
Help me decide what to do about an initiative that isn't working as planned.
The initiative: [e.g. "new product line", "expansion into Germany", "partner channel"]
Original thesis and targets: [WHY we started it and what success was supposed to look like by now]
Results so far: [ACTUALS vs. targets, spend to date, people involved]
What the team says: [their explanation and what they want]
What we've already tried: [CHANGES made]
What else that money and those people could do: [OPPORTUNITY cost]
Do this:
1. Separate the facts: is the problem the idea itself (no demand), the execution, the timing, or under-investment? Point to evidence for each, and say where evidence is missing.
2. Check for decision traps: sunk cost, the sponsor's reputation being tied to it, moving the goalposts, and "just one more quarter" with no defined test.
3. Lay out the options:
- Kill: how to wind down, what we keep (learning, customers, people), and the cost.
- Fix: what specifically changes, the cost, and a time-boxed test with a pass/fail threshold.
- Double down: what would have to be true, and the evidence that it is.
4. Recommend one option, with the reasoning and what would change my mind.
5. If the answer is fix or double down, write the kill criteria now: the metric, threshold, and date.
6. Draft how I'll communicate the decision to the team that owns it, respecting their work.
Highlighted [brackets] are blanks to replace with your own details.
Fill in the blanks and use this promptMore Thinking & Decisions prompts
What to fill in
- ACTUALS vs. targets, spend to date, people involved
- their explanation and what they want
- CHANGES made
- OPPORTUNITY cost
How this prompt is built
This prompt follows the RTF structure (Role, Task, Format). RTF tells the model who to be, what to do and what shape the answer should take. It is the quickest structure that still gives noticeably better results than a bare request.
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