Write a kill-or-double strategy memo for a stalled initiative

Kill-or-Double: The Memo That Stops Zombie Initiatives

Initiatives that should have been killed two quarters ago are the quietest drain on product orgs — the team senses the work isn't landing, leadership hasn't committed to wind-down, and every review produces the same "let's give it one more quarter." Reforge's writing on product strategy and Marty Cagan's work on product focus both document the anti-pattern. The kill-or-double memo converts the ambient anxiety into a binary recommendation with pre-committed criteria.

How the Write a kill-or-double strategy memo for a stalled initiative Prompt Works

The prompt structures the memo around a binary recommendation up front, then marshals the data, tested hypotheses, and both the kill case and double case with a pre-committed decision rule for the next review. The "alternate recommendation if the data were different" output forces intellectual honesty — naming the missing evidence that would flip the call.

When to Use It

• An initiative is 2+ quarters in and metrics are flat.
• Leadership keeps asking "how is X going" and nobody has a clean answer.
• Engineering capacity is constrained and a reallocation case is needed.
• A new product leader is inheriting an initiative they did not start.
• A board is asking about the ROI of a specific bet.

Common Pitfalls

• Hedging the recommendation. A memo that says "continue with adjustments" is the zombie-initiative pattern in written form. Force a binary.
• No pre-committed next-review criteria. Without thresholds that trigger kill or re-invest, the debate will repeat next quarter with the same energy.
• Hiding the unaddressed hypothesis. The honest double case names the one hypothesis we haven't tested — not a warmed-over version of what already failed.

Sources

• The Most Important Thing — Silicon Valley Product Group
• The Product Strategy Stack — Reforge
• Product Strategy Overview — Silicon Valley Product Group
• Product Strategy in Three Steps — Reforge