This question came up in the current cohort of my live Engineering Leadership course:
"What do you do when your team’s project is getting deprecated?"
It’s one of those moments that every leader dreads, and it sparked a great conversation.
Here’s the advice I shared:
Acknowledge the loss
Too many leaders jump straight to “reframing.” Don’t. Your team put real time and energy into this project. Pretending it doesn’t matter makes you sound detached.
Say it out loud: This is tough. I know you’ve poured a lot into this, and it hurts to see it go.
Giving people permission to feel disappointed actually helps them move forward faster.
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