Key takeaways
- Projects fall asleep after the kickoff because tasks clearly belong to no one.
- Standstill rarely comes from skill, it comes from missing, clear ownership.
- The saving question isn't "who's to blame?" but "who does it now?".
There's this moment in projects where I could lose it. The kickoff is great: everyone on fire, tasks assigned, drive in the room. And then? Nothing happens. Tasks get pushed back and forth, and the project falls asleep.
Standstill rarely comes from skill
The reflex is to look for the problem in missing skills or resources. Usually it's elsewhere: in missing, clear ownership. If everyone is a little bit responsible, in the end nobody is.
Tasks that wander back and forth between several people belong to no one. And what belongs to no one doesn't move.
The question is: who does it now?
At a standstill the wrong question is "who's to blame?". It looks to the past and creates defensiveness. The right question is "who does it now?". It looks forward and creates movement.
As soon as one person takes the decision and the responsibility, the project starts moving again. That's exactly why we sit at the table and take ownership instead of just advising.
