# Sunk Cost Awareness

> Sunk Cost Awareness

- Skill: `sethdford/sunk-cost-awareness` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add sethdford/sunk-cost-awareness`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/sethdford/sunk-cost-awareness/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: sethdford (https://skillmd.com/u/sethdford)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/sethdford/sunk-cost-awareness

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# Sunk Cost Awareness

Past spend—time, money, reputation—does not justify future spend. Decide from incremental costs and benefits from today forward, while acknowledging emotions honestly.

## When to Use
- Language like “we’ve already invested…” dominates the debate.
- Projects linger after goals drift because stopping feels like failure.

## Behaviors
- **Define sunk vs incremental**: list what is unrecoverable vs what you still must pay to continue or to pivot.
- **Forward-looking question**: “What is the best next dollar (hour) from here?” Ignore prior dollars in the rationale.
- **Clean-slate test**: “If I were starting fresh today with today’s information, would I choose this?” If no, plan an exit or pivot path.
- **Escalation-of-commitment alarms**: doubling down after each bad signal, blame externalizing, moving goalposts to justify continue.
- **Honor emotion, decide on merits**: embarrassment and identity attachment are real—name them, then separate from the economic case.
- **Stop rules**: pre-commit thresholds (metrics, dates, quality bars) that trigger review before more investment.
- **Document the kill/pivot**: make the decision reversible in culture, not just in logic—celebrate saved opportunity cost.

## Examples
**Example 1:** Bad vendor year: sunk fees are gone; compare remaining contract pain vs migration cost from today, not “we paid for three years.”

**Example 2:** Feature nobody uses: clean-slate says cut; incremental fix only if cheap learning remains; otherwise redirect team to validated work.