We too often fall into a trap thinking that value delivered is proportional to project effort. That’s quite rare. Projects tend to follow the patterns represented by the green and red lines in this graphic:
If you have a “green” type of project, it’s worth asking when you’re hitting a point of diminishing returns. In software development, for example, the last 10% of the functionality often requires half the total project effort. A classic bit of “big organization” political theatre is for an image-conscious leader to bask in the early value delivery, and then jump to another project before they hit the “slog plateau.”
“Red” project patterns require significant commitment from sponsors because the results aren’t usually visible or useful until much later. These projects are often the unsexy, unflashy necessary foundation work for long-term success. Consider shaping a portion of this project to fit the “green” pattern to garner more project buy-in from leaders and stakeholders. Explore parallelization of workstreams to improve delivery time (though you’ll probably pay a premium in overall effort).
Adapt your leadership and execution to the nature of the project. Be mindful of how you coach the energy-needed-over-time equation with your team. Use even a qualitative diagram like the one above to help set expectations.
