Even though Flyvbjerg and Gardner’s Iron Law of Projects (99% of large projects are over time, over budget, under deliver) is proven, it's a nearly universal truth that the first part of a project is bathed in hope. The optimism bias propels teams to march forward with vigor, often neglecting the foundational work crucial for actual success. Ironically, this skip-the-basics approach is a stellar way to torpedo a project before it launches and I’m going to give you four more.
Now, let’s say you were swayed by those pesky WxW consultants preaching Flyvbjerg’s “Think Slow, Act Fast” mantra. Suppose you've got everything lined up: a well-thought-out plan with precise dates, crystal-clear roles and responsibilities (RACI), meetings booked till the project's conclusion, and a rock-solid project-management infrastructure. What then?
How can you successfully kill your project? Here are four time-tested tactics any lead, manager, or participant can use to subvert project success along the way.
Tactic #1: Let decision makers wander off
When key members start missing meetings or ignoring email, the project is already in jeopardy. The impacts start small – a delayed decision, 15 minutes burned rehashing the last meeting – so they seem reasonable at the start. However, these subtle derailments continue to accrue and profoundly impact the resolution, particularly if the approver thrives on consensus or is conflict-averse.
If you have a RACI, but never look at it, update it, or enforce it, it will fall by the wayside. Accommodating those who wander off sends a strong message to those who don’t. Let the world be run by those who DON’T show up and the Iron Law engages.
Tactic #2: Tolerate secret approvers and secret work
A secret approver is the person who wields the approval power despite the fact that the responsibility is attributed to another. Sometimes it’s an executive sponsor who keeps reopening work but can also be a contributor who is filibustering through lack of review.
Secret work is in the same spirit – it’s work that will supersede your project when bandwidth is in short supply. During an early WxW engagement, we had a single subject matter expert (SME) for a project plan deliverable. About three weeks into a six-week engagement, our project lead suddenly told us that 100% of that SMEs part-time bandwidth needed to go towards a related, but separate, project. Absolute gold when it comes to project killing. Because we had no idea of the contract limits or the upcoming work, our project went from “humming along” to “at deaths door.”
Tactic #3: Let people rethink decisions as much as possible
Decisions are only sticky if you write them down and uphold them. Reopening decisions feels natural at times – like when another team or org is engaged mid-project – but offers Jello-like stability for the team. Without reliable decisions, contributors don’t know how to engage in a meaningful way and end up feeling confused, distrusting, apathetic or unimportant. We’ve seen a team reopen first-day project decisions several times throughout a 8-week engagement, causing a total rework of the established plan…three times, successfully dooming the project *chef’s kiss*.
Tactic #4: Never call anything "Done"
Perfectionism is practically a native species in Project-land. Who can argue with wanting work of the highest caliber? Nobody. If a deliverable isn’t perfect, it can't be done, and if it's not done, the project can't succeed. The pursuit of perfection inevitably leaves otherwise great work products open for messy re-edits and out of the hands of those who could put them to use (shout out to all those salespeople waiting the “almost done” marketing materials!!) When edits impact other downstream documents, it usually creates a compounding loop of revisions that…can keep going for quite awhile. Pro tip: Make sure to ask for final feedback at least 3-4 times. If you keep asking, they will keep giving it.
Conclusion
While the market is FULL of this sort of project sabotage, it isn’t currently available from What by When. Until I win Hanna over to it’s market viability, our project powers will only serve the forces of good. If you're facing any of these project killers and need some genuine, sabotage-free assistance, we'd love to help steer your initiatives back on track.
