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When to kill an application dev project

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by maryweilage

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This week's Application Developer Management e-newsletter outlined when and how to kill a project. What warning signs do you look for to determine if it?s time to terminate an application development project? Once you make the call, how do you proceed? Offer your insights on killing a project.

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by trl

The list of warning signs is pretty good, but it all generalizes to this:

A project should be killed when its expected cost to completion exceeds its expected (discounted) benefits.

This is what all the warning signs point to: a project whose payoff is smaller than its cost to completion.

I'd add another warning sign: any project whose cost or benefit analysis is kept secret or not done at all is probably a loser. You'll win more than you lose if you just cancel all such projects unless they're more than half done, according to Stelmach's Law.

Stelmach's Law: "The halfway point is reached when the programmer announces 'it works'."

t

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