Kill Criteria
In her book “Quit”, Annie Duke describes a concept she calls “kill criteria”. Kill criteria are similar to success metrics but intended specifically to help you know when to end something. Good kill criteria have both a state (a measurable condition) and date (by when).
Here’s a cool example:
For mParticle, a SaaS (software as a service) company I’ve worked with, one of the kill criteria was a lack of a decision-maker in the room... If there was no executive in the room during the first few meetings… the seller would explain to the potential customer that, in their experience, deals go more smoothly when there are executives from both sides in the room, and offer to make sure to have an executive from their side at the next meeting if the potential customer would do the same. If the lead refused the offer, the seller would kill the deal. Translated into states and dates, “If I can’t get an executive in the room (the state) by the next meeting (the date), then I’ll kill the deal.”
What are you endeavoring on that you could apply kill criteria to? A project? A relationship? A business?