Why your best projects fail during implementation – and it’s not the project manager’s fault

Last week we got an emergency call from a logistics manager. The project – 18 months old, SEK 40 million budget – had ground to a complete halt. Not because the plan was bad. But because nobody knew who was allowed to change it.

When the decision-maker is elsewhere

We came in at a terminal construction project in December. The project was three months behind. The project manager had a 60-page Excel sheet with decision points marked in red. Half of them were waiting for CFO approval. The CFO did not know he needed to approve anything.

The classic situation: the project is planned by those who deliver, not by those who pay when something goes wrong. The CEO signed off on the business case two years ago. Since then? Quarterly reports and three minutes in the board meeting.

When the supplier is late, when costs blow the budget, when the planning permission hits a snag – there is no mandate to adjust. The project manager waits for a decision. The decision waits for a meeting. The meeting waits for the calendar.

Why your escalation protocol does not work

We see it in every project that has gotten into trouble: a neat PowerPoint about how decisions should be escalated. Green, yellow, red. Then the inevitable happens – something unexpected.

The contractor finds rock where the drawings show clay. Suddenly there is an 8 million shortfall and four weeks of replanning. The project manager checks the escalation protocol. Yellow requires informing the steering group. Red requires CFO sign-off. But this? It is orange. Or dark yellow. Or red with caveats.

Our experience: if it is not obvious when the decision-maker needs to step in, they will not step in. And if they do not already know the project, the decision will come too late.

The only thing that actually works

We build the decision-maker in from day zero. Not as a steering committee member. As the person who has to stand there when things go wrong.

First workshop: the CEO or CFO is in the room. Not to nod at a presentation. To say no to the three things the project must not cost, must not become, must not affect. That creates boundaries that actually hold.

Then: a checkpoint every six weeks. A physical meeting, 45 minutes, the same people. Not a status read-out. Three questions: What could go wrong next? What does it cost to prevent? What does it cost to fix?

When the decision-maker has been through it six times and nothing has happened, they are ready when something does happen. The decision then takes three days, not three weeks.

Takeaway

Next project you start: book the CEO or CFO for one hour every six weeks over the next 18 months. If they say no – you have just found out why the last project fell apart.