Stage 5 · Lesson 2 of 6

Stop, change course or keep going

When a project is going badly, you have three choices: stop, change course, or keep going. Each can be right. Keep going if you have evidence it is close to working, such as a few people who really use it.

Change course if one part works and the rest does not. Stop if you have tried the main ideas, nobody wants it and keeping it alive costs money, health or relationships. Set a clear test with a date: "If fewer than ten people use it weekly by March, I stop."

Common trapthe sunk cost feeling, "I have already spent a year on this", which makes people keep going long after the evidence said stop.

A question to check yourself and an AI practice session come when you add the roadmap to your account. Add it

Resources for this stage

Start with

CourseFree
Startup School
Y Combinator · Beginner
Free lessons on finding users and knowing when an idea is not working

Practise

Sefism Build and Sell Your Own Product Roadmap
Restart smaller: a plan for shipping a product people can actually try

Keep handy

Notion
Keep your project post-mortem, decisions and lessons in one place

Also worth your time

The Courage to Be Disliked (Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga)ReadPaid
On separating your own tasks from other people's judgement of them

Struggling right now? If you are in danger or thinking about harming yourself, contact local emergency services or a crisis line: Find a helpline (any country), Umang (Pakistan), Tele-MANAS, 14416 (India).