When will you kill your project?

 

Several years ago, I was coaching a senior manager on a workshop. He explained that the project he had just been asked to deliver had been attempted before. In the previous two years, other managers had tried and failed to deliver it. Now it was his turn.

After working through the political problems, the scenarios and the reality of what was happening, he realised that the senior sponsors were not committed to it. In fact, they were simply making the right noises and seemed to have no real interest in it delivering.

He decided to kill his project.

Rather than try to influence the senior players to back him and give him the resources he needed, he considered how to influence them to close it down. Brave and courageous move.

By adopting this radical approach, he turned the tables and delivered the project. It seemed that by calling their bluff, he altered the balance of power and had them working hard to influence him to keep at it.

Recommending the closure of your project is always an option, consider it carefully.

Warning: Before you do this, make sure you’ve thought it through in detail, consulted widely and have a plan in place to manage stakeholder expectations.