Introduction

Too many teams spend months on ideas that go nowhere. Pivot Triggers help you stop wasting time and move on faster.

What's the Problem It Solves?

Teams often keep working on projects that clearly aren't working, just because they’ve already spent time and money on them. People get stuck and feel they can’t quit, even when it's obvious the idea should be dropped. This approach helps teams make smart decisions earlier and avoid wasting months on the wrong things.

Quick Summary

Many teams start projects full of energy, but when problems appear, they often ignore the warning signs. They feel pressured to finish what they started, even if the idea is no longer useful. This leads to “zombie initiatives”-projects that stay alive even though they should be dead. Pivot Triggers is a tool that helps stop this pattern by setting up signs (or “triggers”) that tell teams when to change direction or stop altogether.

The Pivot Triggers method helps teams treat each new idea like an experiment. It starts with planning what success looks like and imagining what failure might be. Then, the team decides what small signs to watch for in the first few days and weeks. If those signs don’t show up, they agree ahead of time to pause, adjust, or move on. This method makes it easier to quit the wrong projects early, and put energy into the right ones instead.

Key Takeaways from the Article

• Most teams wait too long to stop failed projects because of sunk cost bias.
• Pivot Triggers help you set clear signs early that show if an idea is working or not.
• Treat new projects like tests-expect change and plan for it.
• Look for small results early, not just big outcomes months later.
• The whole team must agree on when to pivot or stop.
• Sharing triggers with others builds trust and keeps everyone on the same page.
• Checking progress often helps catch problems before time is wasted.
• Pivoting isn’t failure-it’s smart, fast learning.

‍