The discipline that makes strategy real.
WHY IT MATTERS
Capacity is finite, and every commitment excludes another.
WHAT MOST BUSINESSES DO
Add without removing.
WHAT THAT PRODUCES
Attention spread across too many things, none done well.
WHAT TO EXAMINE
Products and services that consume effort and return little Customers who are unprofitable Markets entered opportunistically Activities continuing through habit
WHAT TO ASK OF EACH
What it produces What it costs, including attention What would happen if it stopped
WHY THAT THIRD QUESTION
It exposes activities continuing for no reason.
WHAT TO BE CAREFUL WITH
Stopping something that supports something else.
WHAT TO ESTABLISH
Whether it genuinely does.
WHAT MAKES STOPPING DIFFICULT
Effort already invested Relationships involved Fear of losing revenue
WHY INVESTED EFFORT IS IRRELEVANT
It is spent regardless, and continuing does not recover it.
WHAT TO ASSESS INSTEAD
Whether continuing is worthwhile from today.
WHAT TO PLAN
How to stop: customers informed, commitments honoured, resources redeployed.
WHY PLANNED
Abrupt withdrawal damages relationships unnecessarily.
WHAT TO COMMUNICATE
To staff, why the decision was made.
WHY
Stopping things is interpreted as failure unless explained.
WHAT TO REDEPLOY
The freed capacity, deliberately.
WHY DELIBERATELY
It is otherwise absorbed and the decision produces nothing.
