"The agony of the IT project" or "How to find out that the horse is dead?"

MBA students in the west are taught the ancient Indian wisdom - if you notice that the horse you are riding on is dead, then it is best to get off of it. Applicable to businesses and start-ups, this means that if a product is dead, it is often better to write it off as junk and go further than investing money in intensive care or especially inaction. I note that even sitting on a dead horse, the management can be sure that it is galloping towards a bright future. Many future CEOs take this wisdom into service more literally - they say it’s not shameful to leave the sinking ship one of the first; there are other conclusions that result from under-, over-and otherwise-understanding this wisdom.

Many “jokes” are associated with this “wisdom” that describe the actions of the “managers of companies” that are wrong in this context. But since there is some truth in every joke, and managers often think caricaturefully, I propose to adopt the management steps described below as an indicator that your project / product is ready to “move the horses”, or even begin to smell. Since sometimes I noticed the reluctance to look beyond the edge of the plate, the narration will be on behalf of the very cartoon management.

What we do when a vague assumption creeps in that the company is riding a dead horse:
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[Class indicators “Possible false positives”]
- We get a shagier and more powerful whip for a dead horse (and often enough for rooks)
- We are waiting, we are not doing anything, because we have always ridden dead horses exactly like that and there were no problems before.
- Change the rider. When a dead horse doesn’t gallop it’s usually his fault
- Ennoble the stall, get the grooms of gingerbread
“We are going over the hill, from time immemorial there were riders riding dead horses, adopting their experience
- In the voluntary-compulsory procedure we offer riding courses for the employees of the department
- Create a group and analyze the dead horse, the time of death and the measure of rigor numbness
- We recognize the dead horse invalid certified, it is alive all living

More compelling signs under the cut

[Indicators class average scall]
- We optimize communication between the rider and the dead horse
- Sharply raising the standards of quality control of a dead horse
- Increase the responsibility of riders, we introduce measures to motivate grooms, we introduce incentives
- We unreasonably increase the target body of a dead horse, thus exploring the open markets
- We optimize all processes specifically for riding a dead horse
- We invite experts who have experience riding dead horses
- Create a team for the resurrection of a dead horse
- We bring the dead horse to a separate accounting department
- We carry out a comparative analysis of various dead horses on the market, compare them with ours, we conclude that our horse is not completely dead

[Class Indicators "PROJECT IS DYING !!!"]
- We change the criteria for determining whether a horse is dead
- Outsourcing dead horse to contractors
- We create teams of dead horses to increase the speed and reliability of the ride
- We are conducting research for more lively and cheaper horses on the market
- We allocate additional funds to increase the performance of a dead horse
- We buy steroids to encourage dead horses
- We review the performance criteria for horses in general
- We promote the idea in the market that dead horses have always been more economical, more stable and in many respects better than living ones.
- We form a research group to search for the use of a dead horse

[Indicators of the class “About - hmm let's say blinked like this ...”]
- We draw many, many Powerpoint presentations that prove that a horse could do everything, if only it were still alive
- We officially change our strategy; instead of maximizing profits, we minimize losses
- We are pushing the idea on the market that dead horses die faster and cheaper than live ones, their funerals are cheaper by all indicators.
“We declare that not a single horse can be so dead that we cannot make it run again.”
- After a month, we declare that even a dead horse has value, the monetization of dead horses is only slightly different from the operational business
- We explain that the horse in life was acquired at an inflated price, on the advice of the former rider, poorly scaled, poorly managed, eats a lot, sleeps little, etc. etc.
- We restructure the company so that the dead horse gets into another department or another rider
- We create a special stable department, in whose jurisdiction we hand over all dead horses, we use synergistic connections
- Finding a monetary partner and combining our dead horses with theirs and organizing Joint Venture;)

If these strategies seemed familiar to you, consider whether everything is jumping as it should in your company. And if you are a manager, a startup or just a business person, try not to repeat the mistakes of the notorious managers. I would also venture to suggest writing my unobvious indicators of horse death in the comments.