tactical strategism
work got into a dumb position recently. we were pursuing a low payoff low probability project. we didn't start there of course. the original plan was a high payoff high probability thing. but it started to look like it wasn't going to meet unreasonably high expectations. so we made a tactical decision to change targets. and another. and another. and so on. until eventually we ended up with nothing useful and a big mess. kinda like iraq.