I think tree pruning is actually a good metaphor for approaching life, not just software. Winding down commitments, ending relationships, completing projects, and getting rid of physical clutter are all examples of 'pruning' that anyone can benefit from.

Imagine your life is a fruit tree, now pick any random article on pruning, such as this one (I googled "pruning stimulates new growth"):

http://www.garden.org/ediblelandscaping/?page=pruning-fruit

and you'll get gems like this:

"Pruning stimulates new growth, controls the tree size, and improves the size and quality of the fruit. The first goal of pruning is to remove dead or diseased branches and to create a strong branch structure. Trees with strong branch angles and few overlapping or competing limbs have a better chance of a long, productive life."

and:

"The tendency of some fruit trees to bear in alternate years can be caused by insufficient pruning."

Spare capacity is important, but overlooked.

Opportunities come our way all the time. If you have some slack in your system, you can take advantage of them.

The mental benefits of pruning identified in this blog post are real. It's often hard to even see opportunities if things are too cluttered.

Spare mental capacity is hugely important. That is why off sites work well for clearing ones thoughts, get out of the 'noise' of all the issues and what not to see the new stuff you need to do.

Sometimes you can win by adding more people (mental capacity) and sometimes you can win by trimming back (pruning projects). Balancing them is what makes or breaks leaders.

Great, so now when I am contemplating using, and paying for, your web app or service, I need to not only think about the possibility that you'll "pivot" or just go out of business, but also that you'll decide to "prune" the product that I'm using.

As opposed to other services, for which you sign up and expect them to last a lifetime?

Companies prune under-performing services or products all the time--nothing new. The key is allowing customers to exit gracefully:

1. Give them their data

2. Suggest an alternative

3. Give advance warning

4. Thank them

This is something you always need to consider, with any service. Google Labs first taught us that.

>Google Labs first taught us that

I think this concept predates Google Labs. Not sure if they were the first significant cloud-based product to do that (likely they weren't). But even before the cloud when one has all of the software on their own machine, there was still a risk that the company that made it will pivot away from it/go out of business and stop providing fixes, etc.

I prefer a company that admits they aren't giving attention to a product and stops taking signups, than a company that is happy to let people keep signing up even though it's left to quietly die in the background.

I would say this is acting with integrity.

Wonderful analogy.. you must remove old and mediocre stuff to leave space for innovation