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Monitor · Plan

Kill criteria

The conditions under which you would stop, agreed before anyone is invested. The hardest discipline in strategy, and the cheapest — it costs an hour at the start and saves years.

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Stage
04 Plan
Works at
All levels
Maturity
Any
Time
An hour, at the start

What it is

Pre-committed conditions under which an initiative will be stopped or fundamentally changed, agreed at the start while nobody is yet invested. They exist because the moment to make a stopping decision well is precisely the moment nobody can.

The condition
Specific and observable: a number not reached by a date, a cost exceeded, a competitor move. Ambiguity here guarantees the criterion is never triggered.
Kill or pivot
Whether the condition means stop entirely or change approach. Conflating them means every trigger becomes a debate about redefinition.
Decision forum and owner
Where the call is made and by whom. Criteria without a forum are rationalised informally, which is the same as not having them.
Resource release
Where the money and people go when it stops. Without this the initiative persists at low intensity, which is the worst of both outcomes.
Review point
When the criteria are checked. They should be tested on a rhythm rather than only when someone raises a concern.
The mistake people makeAlmost never done, because at the start everyone is optimistic and at the end everyone is committed. The cost is an hour at the point of least resistance, and it is the highest-return hour in the whole process.
What it’s forYou are starting something that might not work, and want the stopping conditions agreed while nobody is invested.
What it’s not forNever — but do it at the start, not once things are already going badly.

How you run it

  1. Set them before you startAfter the first bad quarter it is too late — everyone is invested and the criteria become a negotiation. This is why it is hard and why it must be first.
  2. Make them specific and observableA number, a date, or a competitor action. "If it is not working" is not a criterion, because nothing is ever unambiguously not working.
  3. Distinguish kill from pivotSome conditions mean stop entirely; others mean change approach. Say which is which, or every trigger becomes an argument about scope.
  4. Name who decides and whereA criterion with no decision forum gets rationalised in a corridor. Name the meeting and the person.
  5. Say where the resource goesA kill that does not release money and people has not happened. Decide in advance where they go, or the initiative continues quietly.

The prompt

Two ways to run it

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🔒 Prompt locked

Everything above is free — what this tool is, what it is for, what it is not for, and how to run it as a workshop. Three tool prompts a month are free with an account; beyond three, and for the printable canvas, it is the paid part.

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Your playbook

It lands in the earliest stage this tool suits. Move it on the Playbook page.

You’ll need

  • A decision or initiative about to begin
  • The people who would have to make the stop call
  • Genuine willingness to be bound by it

You’ll end up with

  • Specific stopping conditions per major move
  • Who makes the call and in what forum
  • What happens to the resource when it stops

Runs well with

AI operating model optionsAI risk classification and governanceAlliance and partnership designBackcasting