Thesis work paper Kill Delayed Projects

Likewise, Davidson (Davidson, 2001) warns of “flogging dead horses”. With managers not willing to cancel delayed software projects (so further endangering the firms cash flow), in the hope they can turn the product development around.
In these cases Sutton (Sutton, 2002) and Teng (Teng, 2002) recommend, selecting only the most promising project(s) and cancelling the rest.
Furthermore, it is normally advisable to stop all further research on the product and set a development and marketing timeline to release a basic version within three months, with only major benefits included.
This is because as Shapiro (Shapiro et al., 2000) remarks, 80% of the value will come from less that 20% of the product’s features. He gives the example of Microsoft Office where customers use fewer than 20% of the product features, but the product still commands a price premium.