Article 5 • 23 Jan

When projects struggle, the instinct is often to fix the process. Add a framework. Introduce tooling. Rework governance.

Sometimes those help. But more often than not, the real issues sit elsewhere: misaligned incentives, unclear ownership, and stakeholders solving different problems under the same project name.

Across large programmes, I’ve seen delivery slow down not because teams lacked capability — but because expectations were never aligned early enough.

Delivery leadership is people work

At its core, delivery leadership is about:

• Creating clarity where there is ambiguity
• Making decisions visible so teams feel safe moving forward
• Managing tension between speed, quality, and risk — without pretending those tensions don’t exist

Good leaders don’t remove friction — they surface it early

Good delivery leaders don’t eliminate friction. They identify it early, address it directly, and keep teams moving.

That often means uncomfortable conversations:

• Scope that no longer makes sense
• Timelines that aren’t realistic
• Responsibilities that have quietly drifted

None of that sits in a project plan. But all of it determines whether delivery succeeds.