Work hole of my making

February 15, 2025 3:56 PM

I'm probably not being super upfront with my leadership and burying how bad we're doing in status reports with the client. They know there are issues, ie. (Yellow, missed deadline by a week or two), not red (Missing deadlines by a month). I really need to tell and come to jesus and tell my leadership and be super upfront. What is my script? How do I prepare for this when it's going to make me look super bad for not being upfront? Is there anyway I can couch this to be so not so bad?

I've been leading an offshore India team that I selected and estimated the work (both in a technology I'm not very knowledgeable about), it's not going so well, they are taking way longer on tasks and probably from client perspective, just not good. I know deep down is that my higher ups should have flagged this, said "hey, let someone else do this, or someone else review the work". The higher ups don't love offshore devs anwyay, think they all mostly suck but usually you get by with lots of numbers. I purposely (like I didn't know) just kept the team small since I didn't think they'd be helpful anyway.

I'm just super scared, embarrassed, feel like i'm an imposter and I've not been fully upfront with anyone. I've been taking all my effort to help the team in a technology I don't even know, giving them specific instructions that don't work.

Several times in the last month I've been ready to talk to my leadership about how bad things are, but I've just said "I'm really worried", "my team is not that good" or "we're going to be a couple weeks late". They either just kind of put it off or just say "Ok, let's talk to this other person, they can figure it out"

I put in status reports that it's yellow, which is alarming (wow you guys are the only yellow team), but if I put some slipped dates etc, I dont know how much pressure, I'd get into
My team seems to ask basic questions (that I can't answer, but the client can). I have been really distracted at home and it's just in my thoughts all the time (I live in DC, so only thing that pushes it out is DOGE).

My leadership doesn't already have a great opinion of me (The contract had some sloppy things, the way we structured the deal was weird and not what he wanted), so i Know thos would crater. If i were him I would be not happy, and be trying to figure out a way to get me off the project and replace me with a better PM and someone with the technical skills to help the team. In reality half of me wants to propose that and lift this load off my chest.

In the CBT world, I ask, what's the worst that can happen: The worst is that I get taken off the project, in three months I don't find another (cause economy, just mediocre results in last 4 years) and I get laid off. I get 20 weeks severance and have a couple year nest egg, so really not so bad. Right? I've been working here for 14 years through an acquisition, never got close to getting another job, so part of me does want to get a new job and anyway.

posted by sandmanwv to Work & Money (11 answers total)

What do you want to happen? You don't really say, you just seem to be preparing for failure.

You've been signalling quite correctly that the project is in trouble and behind. It will go bad for you if you just drift along hoping it'll fix itself. Instead, ask for what you need to get the project on track. Is it more resources, more direct contact with the client, attention from someone else in your organization?

The real hangup here seems to be that the team is asking questions you can't answer. But that also should be easy to solve with some outside help.
posted by zompist at 4:08 PM on February 15 [1 favorite]

[Boss], I am in over my head on this project and the situation has become urgent. I need support to help prioritize the issues we're facing that are threatening the project's success. I've realized I don't have the detailed technical knowledge required to manage the prioritization on my own. What information do you need from me so that we can start to rein this in?
posted by phunniemee at 4:16 PM on February 15 [8 favorites]

Best answer: I can't tell from your description if the project is yellow and you don't think you've communicated that up, or if it is red masquerading as yellow. A couple observations that apply in both cases:
#1 If this is an anchor client for your company, or a new client that might turn into an anchor client, your leadership's reaction is going to be, "let's fix this immediately."
#2 The more runway the project has remaining, the better opportunity your company has to fix the project without missing end dates. Don't put off the conversation.
#3 If you are just in a little over your head but feel like you can fix that with resources, you should propose a plan to fix the project when you deliver the news. If you are in way over your head, you should just admit that.
Good luck. Don't underestimate the value of an employee who is willing to communicate bad news in a timely manner. 14 years of tenure should buy you some good will, too.
posted by BlueTongueLizard at 4:49 PM on February 15 [7 favorites]

(I live in DC, so only thing that pushes it out is DOGE).

The single helpful thing about the current administration is this: no matter how embarrassed or ashamed you feel, you will never have as much to be ashamed of as those people.

You're okay.

It will suck, but take it seriously. Without putting it off any more, go into your boss's office taking it seriously, put your ego and image aside and prioritize the company.

Do the upright thing, unlike the GOP shitheads. Stand tall through the consequences.

Then go home at the end of the day and be good to yourself, because that was a hard thing you just did.
posted by trig at 4:55 PM on February 15 [8 favorites]

I think you have time to be proactive and up front. Most projects aren't completed on time, what matters is that the goals remain achievable and things are moving forward. It's normal for things to change when the boots hit the ground, especially if you're working with a new team and working with a remote team. Project managing that sort of a situation is a challenge in the best of times.

If you want the corporate speak, when talking to your superiors let them know that you (the collective you) need a level set, revise timelines and that's also your chance to ask for help on the PM side. Should you be managing things? Should someone on the other end? Do you have an agenda for your calls? Are you able to track progress? Reality is mgmt might not even batt an eyelash when you say things are off track, or they might want to break timelines up. Some questions to ask: What do you need for an MVP? What are you doing to help move things forward? What are you doing to hold the other team's feet to the fire?

You have all my sympathies, I just finished a project that was supposed to take 4 months, it ended up taking 20 months, we went through a couple of PMs, we were working with a company that was great in the past but it was a different team and after a few months we realized we were basically starting from zero. Good times, and brutal at the start, and even the middle, but now it's done and live and we would never go back. FWIW, when I had a team of 10 devs from south asia they were great at saying yes to everything and then regrouping after and not doing any of it, I think every estimate took at least 3x what was budgeted when it came to time. Good luck!
posted by furtive at 5:50 PM on February 15

In my world (which is admittedly a very different world), some of the blame here is squarely on your supervisors. If there's really such a huge difference between "a few weeks" behind schedule and "a month behind schedule", then it's their job to know how the schedule is going, and to ask for specifics when necessary.

Not that this will be a good framing to bring to them, but I just wanted to say to you it seems to me you've been set up (or let down) from above too, even if you could have been a little more proactive in signaling the degree and extent of any problems.
posted by SaltySalticid at 6:39 PM on February 15 [1 favorite]

Best answer: The way to stay employed here is to provide a detailed plan for how this project is going to be delivered and sell it to your leadership. Certainly do not bring up your missteps proactively, and if asked say that a lot of factors converged, and right now you're focused on getting the project delivered. You are looking forward to doing the post-mortem later.

Basically just keep everyone (including you) focused on the future.

-----------
Script:

With the customer milestone coming up quickly I felt it was a good time to revisit the original plan and see where we are.

Overall the plan is sound, although we were over-optimistic about what the India team could accomplish.

The following milestones have been met: [several milestones you have actually met]

We are running behind schedule on: [next few milestones]

I'm working with the India team, but they need more technical handholding than I can give them. I would like to borrow [subject expert] to help guide them.

I am also considering options in case this team is just unable to deliver. Hopefully it won't come to this, but one option is [option].

Once again, the project is moving forward but slower than we'd like. I believe [subject expert] could help us pick up the pace considerably.

----------------------------

Normally when someone says they feel like an impostor I tell them we all feel like that. However, in this case you really have presented yourself as someone who can manage a technology project with technology you don't understand. From what you have said I think it really is time to call in the calvary.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 6:56 PM on February 15 [14 favorites]

It's the script Tell Me No Lies lays out. To be seen as competent, you need to propose solutions for completing the project successfully from where it is now. Do not go in with a message that only says things are not going to plan and you need help. It's the equivalent of asking a boss to do your job for you. Act knowing that you are the best person to articulate these solutions because of your role on the project.

When you draft your proposed solutions be both clear and ambitious. By ambitious I mean, propose adding eight weeks to the project if you think the team needs seven (or even six). Ask for the best PM, not just a PM. Identify a client employee as dedicated SME liaison to your team, don't just say "the client could answer this stuff." If you think the project as spec'ed is a mess, spell out parts that should be moved to a Phase 2 and how that will actually be better.

You want to come out of this project as someone who can take a floundering project and turn it around, not as someone who comes multiple times for vague "help" and still delivers a late project that fails the specs.
posted by cocoagirl at 4:51 AM on February 16

Everything cocoagirl just said, but especially “Identify a client employee as dedicated SME liaison to your team.” The client specs are going to change anyway, and that’s the only way you’ll stay on top of it.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 7:07 AM on February 16

Look, I’m about 6 months into a similar (different industry) project also with a lot of history at this company, and SURPRISE, things did not magically get better. In my case, I was pretty clear about my doubts and concerns going into this and said I should not be the one to lead the project, but almost certainly should have done a better job telegraphing that consistently and not just at the beginning + three months in. Ultimately this has SUPER sucked for EVERONE (myself, company, client) and I am now planning to leave the job because I honestly don’t know what else to do or how to fix the situation. My takeaway is legitimately that I should have threatened to quit at the very beginning instead of cautiously just going along with everything and “doing my best,” and/or done whatever I could to bail out/get help as early as possible (like week 2) and as often as possible (like week 2, week 3, week 4, week 5…). I should not have consistently kept trying to beat my head against the wall to fix things myself, it’s really been a failure for all of us.
posted by samthemander at 9:30 AM on February 16

One hundred percent came here to say what others have: you go to management with a proposed solution and requests for what you need from them in order to succeed.

You don’t go to them with a confession. You haven’t sinned and this is just work!

It’s management’s job to give you the resources you need to complete this, and if they don’t then they are fine with a late/failed project.
posted by kapers at 4:00 PM on February 16