From Decision to Delivery and Every Failure in Between

Beyond the blame game and building a culture of resilience

Projects rarely fail at the finish line, they often fail at the starting blocks if not even before.

Many years ago I inherited a difficult and failing project. I was brought in to attempt to fix things but for a variety of reasons it was too late to turn it around. I was surprised in that particular instance how quickly I was blamed by the various stakeholder for the less than positive outcome. I was fortunate at the time that the sponsor was very forceful in explaining that it was easy to blame the project manager (me) because he was the last person “holding the bag.”

It would have been easy for me based on this experience to surmise that the best defense against failure is a game of musical chairs to avoid being stuck with failure. Luckily, and most likely because of the support of my sponsor, I was able to go beyond the worry of engaging in blame games and focus on lessons learned.

What I realized then, and I believe is still true today that most of the time people point to execution as the culprit of failure. You often hear of excuses like:

• “The project leader didn’t understand the strategy.”

• “The team failed to follow the ‘perfect’ plan.”

• “Individual contributors missed deadlines or underperformed.”

However, it is rare for organizations to blame poor strategies, unrealistic plans, and inadequate resources as the source of challenges that such projects present. As leaders we should recognize that failure often starts much earlier in the organizational lifecycle. It can be caused by:

• Flawed data that is accepted without question.

• Strategies that are built on shaky assumptions.

• Leaders who misinterpret signals and draw the wrong conclusions.

• Decisions drift, delayed until it’s too late.

By the time execution stumbles, the cracks were already baked in.

The Lifecycle of Failure

Failure doesn’t wait until delivery to show up. It sneaks in at every stage of the journey, long before anyone notices the damage being done. Every project runs through a decision-to-execution lifecycle, and at each step, failure has an entry point:

1. Information: is it accurate and trusted?
   Bad data leads to bad strategy. If the inputs are wrong, everything downstream is already compromised.

2. Interpretation: do we agree on what it means?
   The same set of facts can be read in multiple ways. Misaligned interpretations fracture teams before execution even begins.

3. Conclusions: are we drawing the right ones?
   Leaders sometimes jump to easy or convenient conclusions. When conclusions are flawed, they set the wrong course with misplaced confidence.

4. Decisions: are leaders willing to choose?
   Unnecessarily fast decisions and drawn-out indecision are two sides of the same coin. One throws the team off a cliff, the other stalls momentum, but both erode organizational trust.

5. Plans: do they translate into actionable steps?
   A plan that looks perfect on paper but can’t be executed in reality is just wishful thinking. Poor planning is failure deferred. It is particularly problematic if it is based on a faulty planning foundation that makes execution impossible.

6. Execution: can the organization deliver?
   This is where failure becomes visible. But by now, most of the cracks were already baked in upstream.

7. Outcomes: do results match intent?
   Even when execution succeeds, shifting environments can move the goalposts. Delivering the plan doesn’t always deliver the value. Also, by the time the team crosses the finish line, the people who cared most about the outcome may no longer even be there.

At any of these stages, failure can creep in. That’s why the “80% of projects fail” cliche is so misleading. It paints delivery teams as the problem, when the real issue is often decision integrity and the actions that follow.

Where the PMO’s Value Can Shine

Not every PMO looks the same. Some are project offices, some are support offices, and some are transformation command centers. But when delivery oversight is part of the mandate, the role goes far beyond tracking status.

The best PMOs guard the decision chain.

Leaders in these PMOs develop the discipline to test assumptions before they harden into strategy. Project managers pressure-test conclusions before projects go live. Executives insist that decisions translate into clear, actionable steps.

When the cracks appear, the PMO should surface them early, not just with an eye to avoid disaster, but a plan to course correct action.

That’s where the real value lies. Not in managing projects on autopilot, but in protecting the conditions for success.

Rethinking Failure

Even with the best decisions, not every project will succeed.

That’s a hard truth to accept, especially when you’re the one accountable for the project that falls short. But at the organizational level, we need to reframe our relationship with failure.

Yes, success is always the goal. But pretending every project can or should succeed sets everyone up for disappointment. And let me be clear: I’m not suggesting we build tolerance for mediocrity or lower the bar on quality.

On the contrary. Standards must remain high, especially around quality and safety. Project success should always be aspired to and planned for.

What I am suggesting is that we reframe how organizations react to failure, and how leaders step up in its aftermath.

Think about it like a financial portfolio. Some investments win big, but some lose. What matters is the performance of the portfolio as a whole. A smart portfolio absorbs small failures to unlock bigger wins.

Your project portfolio should work the same way. Occasional failure is the cost of innovation, experimentation, and growth. What matters is whether the system, your portfolio, is resilient enough to keep delivering.

That’s what allows organizations to move beyond blame and start building a true culture of resilience.

Beyond Failure and Into Success

From decision to delivery, failure can creep in at any stage. The PMO’s job isn’t to pretend it won’t happen. It’s to spot the early warning signs, contain the damage, adjust course when possible, absorb the loss when necessary, and keep the portfolio moving forward.

The more clearly we understand where failure begins, the better positioned we are to deliver lasting success.

👉 So let me ask you: in your experience, where does failure usually start: data, decisions, or delivery?