The Early Warning Report™
Issue # 41: An example of Strategic Misalignment
EARLY WARNING SIGN
Team members can explain what they are building but struggle to explain why it matters.
Project teams naturally focus on tasks, milestones, and deliverables. The warning sign appears when conversations increasingly center on activities while the connection to business outcomes becomes unclear.
You may hear questions such as, “Why are we doing this?” or notice that team discussions focus on completing requirements rather than achieving the intended outcome.
WHAT IT USUALLY MEANS
The project’s strategic purpose may no longer be guiding everyday decisions.
Strategic alignment is often clear at the beginning of a project but can fade during execution. Without ongoing reinforcement, teams may continue delivering work while losing sight of the organizational objective the project was created to support.
WHY IT MATTERS
A project can deliver successfully while failing to create meaningful strategic value.
When purpose becomes disconnected from execution, priorities and decisions can shift toward what is easiest to deliver rather than what matters most. The result is a project that meets delivery expectations but falls short of its intended impact.
WHAT TO DO IF YOU SEE THIS WARNING
A simple alignment conversation can reveal whether the team shares the same understanding of success.
Ask the team:
“What organizational objective does this project support, and how does our current work contribute to achieving it?”
Listen for consistency. Different answers may reveal where alignment needs to be reinforced.
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REFLECTION
Could every member of your project team clearly explain how their current work contributes to the outcome your project was created to achieve?
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Until next week, keep watching for the warning signs.
— Andrew J Putnam, Author of Stop Project Killers