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- You followed the plan. So why did the project still fail?
You followed the plan. So why did the project still fail?
And it's not the lack of budget, scope and time
Read time: 6 minutes Words: 880
In the last issue, we asked: “Are you silently losing time to communication debt?”
This week, we go deeper.
Communication debt isn’t just about dropped messages or vague updates; it’s about a layered, structural misalignment between people working together. And they’re often invisible until it’s too late.
We’re thrilled to bring you exclusive insights from Michael Küsters, an operations consultant who creates his own tools, methods, and architectures to help individuals and organizations succeed. He coined the term communication debt in his blog “Get NEAR - Reduce Communication Debt” and his practical and people-centered approach reveals why teams keep misfiring, even when everyone is “communicating.”
P.S. In this issue, we will also cover:
Why tracking actual, planned, and earned time helps steer projects to success
What separates elite PMs from the rest
Is modern project management getting over-engineered?
At the heart of communication debt is a simple truth: we talk past each other. Michael explains that this debt builds in layers, each one masking the next, and each one silently influencing your team’s behavior and alignment.
Let’s unpack each level.
🗣️ Level 1: Needs
“Everything we do in business is for people. And people have needs. If we don’t talk about those needs, we’re already misaligned.”
This is the level that is often left unspoken. Needs are what truly drive behavior, but in professional settings, we avoid talking about them.
A customer might say, “I need a dashboard,” but what they really need is visibility into performance.
A developer might want clearer specs, but what they actually need is mental clarity to avoid burnout.
A support team might say they need a new form, but what they need is to stop doing repetitive work that adds no meaning to their day.
Ignoring real needs leads to projects that technically succeed but fail in practice, like completing a detailed status report template that no one reads because leadership just wants a simple “red/yellow/green” update. The result is costly rework, low adoption, and eroded trust between teams and stakeholders.
💡Michael’s tip:
“If you want to understand needs, shadow the person. Don’t just ask what they want, ask them to teach you what they do. Sit next to them. Learn what’s frustrating. That gives you more clarity than a week of requirement docs.”
😨 Level 2: Expectations
“Expectation conflicts often feel personal. But they usually stem from different needs.”
Expectations define success. But when they’re unspoken or misaligned, teams drift. What’s “good enough” for one role may be “a failure” for another.
Examples:
Stakeholders want fast delivery while teams aim for perfection
One team prioritizes compliance, and another prioritizes UX
PMs assume weekly updates are fine, but execs want them daily
Misaligned expectations create confusion about what “success” looks like, leading to frustration, blame, and rework. Even well-executed projects can fail if teams and stakeholders aren’t aligned from the start.
💡Michael’s tip:
“The most important PM tool I’ve found for managing expectations is coffee. Take your stakeholder out for a coffee and ask, ‘What's on your mind? What is bugging you?’”
❓Level 3: Assumptions
We all operate based on assumptions. But when they’re different and unspoken, they can derail an entire project.
One manager assumes people should multitask
Another assumes focus is key
One team assumes customers will enter correct data
Another knows they won’t
Without surfacing these assumptions, we build workflows, products, and strategies that conflict by default.
“The world looks different from each seat at the table. If we never talk about that, we build for a reality that doesn’t exist.”
🔗 Level 4: Reasons
“Sometimes the only reason given for doing something is: ‘Because we have to.’ That’s not a reason, it’s an excuse.”
At the surface level, this is about justifying tasks and decisions. But the reason debt goes deeper. It’s when we’ve stopped asking why we do things and when we go through motions without meaning.
We fill out reports no one reads
We update tools no one uses
We build features no one needs
“Reason debt makes us scared to stop doing things, even when we can’t explain why we’re doing them in the first place.”
🧠 Why does this matter to project teams?
Each level of communication debt adds invisible friction to your work:
Misunderstood needs = irrelevant deliverables
Misaligned expectations = resentment and churn
Unchecked assumptions = conflicting processes
Forgotten reasons = wasted effort and time
Project KPIs suffer. So does trust. So does clarity.
In Issue 3, we’ll look into:
How to tackle communication debt with your team and stakeholders
Explore some practical frameworks to reduce each level of communication debt
This month’s can't-miss resources:
🖌From the web - Why it's important to track actual time, planned time, and earned time in project management
Miguel Guardo
🎙Podcast vault - What separates elite PMs from the rest
Kyle Nitchen
🗣 Discussions from Reddit - Is project management getting way too engineered?
🗓 Webinar - Sustainability plus: powering project success through regeneration @29th October, 11 am EDT
🗓 Event - PMI global summit @12-15th November, Phoenix, Arizona
Thank you for reading! See you next month
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