Weekly Roundup: Turnarounds Start Sooner Than You Think
How strong PMs and PMOs prevent the fire, not just fight it
Some projects can be saved, yet some cant’t.
But the PMO should never be the last one to know.
This week, we talked turnarounds, not just the stories of recovery, but the systems and leadership it takes to prevent disaster in the first place.
This Week’s Highlights:
📄 Monday Article: “Troubled Projects”
We defined the danger zone between success and failure and the leadership required to act when red flags start to stack up.
📝 Read here
🎥 Tuesday Video: “How a Pause Turned a Failing Project Around”
One of the simplest, but hardest, moves a PM can make: stop, reset, and rebuild trust around a new plan.
🎥 Watch here
📄 Wednesday Article: “Rescue Starts with Readiness”
This article laid out how great PMOs build systems for early sensing, triage, and delivery support before trouble becomes failure.
📝 Read here
🎥 Thursday Episode: “When You Fail Anyway”
A personal story about stepping into a doomed project and what happens when failure finds you anyway.
🎥 Watch here
Also This Week:
🎙️ Podcast: “Lee Lambert on the Origins of the PMP”
We sat down with one of the legends of the profession. Lee Lambert shares how the PMP came to be, what he’d do differently, and why project management still matters more than ever.
🎧 Watch here
🎧 Throwback Debate: “Do All Companies Need a PMO?”
From the archives, one of our sharpest PM Debate episodes on whether every org should have a PMO. Still timely. Still spicy.
🎧 Listen here
Turnarounds Aren’t About Heroes. They’re About Systems.
The myth of the lone PM who saves the day is tempting, but it’s rarely real.
What works instead?
✅ Early warning systems, not just red-yellow-green reports
✅ Safe space to raise risk not punishment for honesty
✅ Triage that leads to action not analysis paralysis
✅ A culture of truth-telling over face-saving
✅ A PMO that shows up with structure, not just scrutiny
This is what delivery stewardship really looks like.
Final Take
Every PM will face failure.
Every PMO will hit turbulence.
The question is:
Are you the one catching smoke early or showing up after the fire?
Readiness is the real rescue plan.