Cognitive Scaffold

Preparing your thinking workspace

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MENTAL MODEL · M5207

Death March

Death March
BehaviorHigh supportPsychology
Included
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Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30

CORE DEFINITION

A doomed project that all participants know will fail (or be extremely costly, such as long-term 996), but due to management's will, the team continues to push forward like the living dead until all resources are exhausted.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

Irrational persistence. This often stems from escalation of commitment and sunk cost. The individual strategy is to either jump ship as soon as possible or focus only on skill accumulation (to prepare for the next job) while psychologically detaching from the project outcome.

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

Escalation of commitment and sunk cost cause the team to continue exhausting resources despite knowing certain failure, with management's will overriding rationality.

MINIMUM ACTION

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Source support: Explicit

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    en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_marchZH · Explicit
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