Hold ’em or fold ’em?

Chris quoted Kenny Rogers “You got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em. Know when to walk away, know when to run”.

I felt great reading the post because I went through this process during the last few months and have just reached stage 5. – so it was a major feel-good reading experience for me.

“With your projects, just like poker, there are some signs or “tells” so you know when to fold”

So true. Now, quoting Chris – here are the five critical learning points here:

1. The project is painful rather than fruitful – If it is draining your energy rather than boosting it then it is not worth wrecking your other projects for.
2. Opportunity cost is greater than the return on investment – Distracting you from more successful or profitable endeavours is not a good use of your time.
3. Target audience is skewed away from your core – When you are attracting the wrong people and it is only getting worse, call it quits.
4. Partners are feeling the pain – Sometimes you can step back and let staff/partners/outsourcers take over, but when you can’t keep these folks motivated you definitely have an issue.
5. Your gut tells you to quit – It’s funny how sometimes your conscious mind takes a while to catch up to what your subconscious already knows.

Question is – is it possible to recover bad projects? Maybe, but it may not be such a great idea.

Stepping away from the table is not failure, it is often a sign of maturity and wisdom.

What should you quit today?

Cheers!

Vidya