Zombie Project

Definitions

1. A project that's not officially cancelled but receives no meaningful investment, resources, or attention — it shambles forward without direction or impact. Often kept alive by sunk cost fallacy, political reasons, or fear of admitting failure. Consumes team energy without producing value.

   In plain English: A project that should be dead but keeps dragging on because nobody wants to officially cancel it.

   Example: "The internal analytics dashboard is a zombie project — nobody uses it, but nobody will approve killing it because the VP championed it."

Related Terms

• Cowboy Coding
• Cargo Culting
• Premature Abstraction
• NIH Syndrome
• Resume-Driven Development
• Golden Hammer
• Psychological Safety
• Context Switching Tax
• The Joel Test
• Flat Organization