identify-kill-list

name

identify-kill-list

description

Names what the substacker writer should stop doing — habits with no evidence of use, goals that became theatre, sections with 2 consecutive dormant quarters, and agents in the team whose output the writer ignores. Produces a bulleted list, each item with one sentence of why. Max 4 items. Ordered by ease (easiest first). Used once per Growth Strategist review. Trigger keywords — kill list, stop doing, what to cut, dead habits, dormant, ignored output.

Identify Kill List

Workflow

Per quarterly review:
- [ ] Step 1: Candidate sources:
    - Sections classed "candidate-for-prune" in section-portfolio-assessment
    - Goals unchanged 2 quarters in a row with no progression
    - Agents in the team whose output the writer has not referenced in any decision this quarter
    - Habits writer flagged in audience-notes as guilt-producing but unused
- [ ] Step 2: Filter to max 4 items (ruthless)
- [ ] Step 3: Order by ease: easiest kills first
- [ ] Step 4: Each item: one-sentence why

Rules

• Max 4 items. More than 4 and the writer won't stop any of them.
• First kill should be something the writer will actually do within a week.
• Last kill can be harder (a habit, a section) — but still named.

Worked example

- Drop the daily trend-scout digest. You haven't acted on any item from it in 12 weeks.
- Kill the "book reviews" section. One post in two quarters; it's guilt scaffolding, not a section.
- Stop writing the weekly "state of the publication" note to yourself. The Growth Analyst's report is doing that job now.
- Remove the "get on Hacker News front page" goal. It's not a goal, it's an outcome, and chasing it warps the writing.

Guardrails

1. Never exceed 4 items.
2. Order by ease. First item should be actionable this week.
3. One-sentence rationale each. No paragraphs.
4. Pull from multiple candidate sources — don't have all 4 be sections.
5. Never suggest killing something the writer explicitly committed to this quarter.
6. Previous-quarter kills that the writer didn't execute can be re-named — but only once, not indefinitely.