The Modern Leader
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.
(Side note: I’m not running the live course again this year, but you can still grab the self-paced version if you want to dig into more situations like this.)
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.
Reframe what success means
Deprecation doesn’t equal failure. Projects die for all kinds of reasons: market shifts, executive bets, cost cutting, an acquisition nobody saw coming.
Your team’s work still had value. Maybe it uncovered customer insights. Maybe it laid technical groundwork that other teams will build on. Maybe it proved what not to pursue, which is just as important.
Help your team see the bigger picture: they didn’t waste their time.
Harvest the wins
Before you shut the door, look for what’s worth carrying forward.
- Technical assets. APIs, integrations, even little tools the team hacked together.
- Process learnings. Did you figure out a better way to test, ship, or collaborate?
- Customer insights. These don’t vanish just because the project does.
I like to treat deprecated projects as a mine, not a graveyard. There’s always something to take with you.
Protect morale
This is where things can go south. If people feel like their work didn’t matter, disengagement spreads quickly.
Don’t sugarcoat, but do connect the dots:
- “We wouldn’t be able to pivot to X without what you built here.”
- “The relationships you built with this customer group still matter.”
- “This project gave us insights leadership didn’t have before.”
That’s not spin. It’s truth. But you have to say it out loud.
Give clarity on what’s next
Uncertainty is worse than bad news. Even if you don’t have every answer, share what you do know:
- When support officially ends.
- Whether the team is maintaining until sunset or transitioning immediately.
- What options people have for future work—new projects, other teams, or re-skilling.
Transparency beats silence every time.
Remember: projects die, people don’t
Okay yes, people do die, but that’s not the point here.
Your team’s work was real. Their contributions matter. Just because a project is being deprecated doesn’t mean your people are.
That distinction is what good leadership looks like.