Guessing is not a strategy: How to build decision velocity with AI and real-time data
June 10, 2026 | Live Webinar
When Facts Just Don’t Matter
Tom's latest eBook has been released on Amazon: "The 7 Myths of IT Integrations". Tom is also a Program Director for a large Midwest corporation and has been an adjunct faculty member at Walsh College. He has managed global web initiatives, data center moves and large multi-million dollar programs.
I was managing a project a few years ago that was progressing exactly as the team and I had planned. The project team and I had done the proper amount of upfront planning resulting in a budget that matched very well to reality, schedules being hit dead-on and the client was very happy with what we were delivering.
Everything was flying along just fine until…the upper management from my company became involved. Once that happened, the reality of the project and its status gave way to personal agendas, wounded egos and misinformation. It took me by surprise and I was not ready for it--nor able to control it. Suddenly a contrived perception seemed to be shaping reality and I could try all I wanted to but the simple truth was that facts did not matter.
The Best Laid Plans…
The program that I was on was for one of our larger (not the largest) clients. I had drawn the Program Manager assignment and quickly assessed that it was a large effort but something that I believed I could pull off successfully. “It’s a big job,” the managing director cautioned me. Not a problem. I selected key members of my team and we went to work.
I started out by using what many thought was overkill—a Work Breakdown Structure. “Isn’t this a little academic?” I was asked. “I would never start a large program without one…
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"There is more to life than increasing its speed." - Mahatma Gandhi |