Know when to stop.
Stopping a pilot that isn't working is a good result, not a bad one. It frees money and attention for the one that will.
Kill signals
Time To Stop
- Missed the pass mark after a fair run
- Fixing its output eats the time saved
- People quietly work around it
- A risk appeared you can't control
Stopping well
Do It Right
- Decide against the agreed pass mark
- Write down what you learned
- Thank the team who tried it
- Keep the data for the next idea
A stopped pilot is data, not failure.