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Measure and improve · Core

Decide what next: iterate, scale or stop

Use what you have learned to decide the product's next step: keep improving it, invest to grow it, or stop and move the team to something more valuable.

About 1-2 daysEvergreenLast reviewed 5 November 2026

Who this applies to

Skills it builds
Prioritisation and roadmappingData and measurement
PM types
All
Product types
All
Starting points
All
Ways of working
All
Experience
All
Size of organisation
All

Steps, by experience

Beginner (under 1 year)

  1. Bring together the results, user feedback and post-launch review.
  2. Ask: did it meet its goal, partly meet it or miss it?
  3. If it met it, look at what would help it grow.
  4. If it partly met it, pick the biggest problem to fix next.
  5. If it missed, consider stopping. Stopping frees the team for better work.
  6. Write the recommendation and agree it with your sponsor.

Intermediate (1 to 4 years)

  1. Assess results against the goal and the cost of continuing.
  2. Recommend iterate, scale or stop, with evidence.
  3. Set the next goal and metric if continuing.
  4. Agree and record the decision.

Experienced (5+ years)

  1. Compare continuing with the best alternative use of the team.
  2. Watch for sunk-cost thinking in yourself and stakeholders.
  3. Plan how to retire features cleanly if stopping, including user communication.
  4. Update the roadmap and strategy to match.

Who can do this

Owner: Product manager

Can be delegated to

  • Data Analyst or Performance Analyst: Summarise results and trends
  • Delivery Manager: Show the cost of continuing

Reviewed by: Tech Lead, Delivery Manager

Tool examples

Confluence
Record the decision on the product brief page so the history is in one place.
Google Docs
Write a short decision memo with evidence for and against.
Claude
Paste your results summary and ask it to argue for the option you are not recommending.

Definition of done

  • Recommendation written with evidence
  • Next goal set if continuing
  • Decision agreed and recorded

Common pitfalls

  • Carrying on because of effort already spent
  • Scaling before the product works well
  • Stopping without telling users

If you lead the team

What good looks like: Teams decide openly whether to keep improving, invest to grow or stop.

Ask your PM

  • Based on results, should we iterate, scale or stop?
  • What would we do with the team if we stopped?

Warning signs

  • Nothing is ever stopped.
  • Investment follows habit, not evidence.

Do these first

Sources