Crisis Management In Projects

In 2011, the Amazon Appstore failed on launch and Jeff Bezos was furious. It was my fault, and I handled one aspect of recovery so poorly that one of my engineers quit. I still regret it 14 years later. Please learn from my mistake. The main lesson is that when you are leading through a crisis, it can feel like it is all about you. It isn’t. It is about: 1) Solving the problem 2) Guiding your team through it The product issue was that there were some pretty simple bugs, and we solved those problem well enough that I was eventually promoted. Where I failed was in guiding my team through the crisis. My leadership miss was that I neglected to encourage and support the engineer who had written the bad code. He did a great job stepping up and supporting the effort to fix the problem, but shortly afterward, he resigned. During the crisis, I failed to make clear to him that we did not blame him for the launch failure despite the bugs. I imagine that left room for him to think we blamed him or that he didn’t belong. It is also possible that others did blame him directly and that I was too caught up in the crisis to realize it. Both instances were my responsibility as the leader of the team. His resignation taught me a valuable lesson about leading through a crisis: No matter how bad the situation is, your team must be your first priority. If you make them feel safe, they will move heaven and earth to fix the problem. If you don’t, they may still fix the problem, but the team itself will never be the same. As a leader, here is how you can give them what they need: 1) Take the blame and do not allow others to be blamed. In some bug cases after this we did not release the name of the engineer outside the team in order to protect them from judgment or blame. 2) Separate fixing the problem from figuring out why it happened. Once the problem is fixed, you can focus on root-causing. This lowers the risk of searching for answers getting confused with searching for someone to blame. 3) Realize that anyone involved in the problem already feels bad. High performers know when they have fallen short and let their team down. As a leader you have to show them the path to growth and success after the crisis. They do not need to be beaten up on- they have taken care of that themselves. 4) See crises and problems as growth opportunities, not personal flaws. Your team comes with you in a crisis whether you like it or not, so you might as well come out stronger on the other side. As a leader, the responsibility for a crisis is yours in two ways: The problem itself and the effect it has on the future of the team. Don’t get too caught up in the first to think about the second. Readers- Has your team survived a crisis? How did you handle it?

Land the plane. If you’re in it right now, dealing with a missed goal, a major bug, a failed launch, or an angry keystone customer, this is for you. In a crisis, panic and confusion spread fast. Everyone wants answers. The team needs clarity and direction. Without it, morale drops and execution stalls. This is when great operators step up. They cut through noise, anchor to facts, find leverage, and get to work. Your job is to reduce ambiguity, direct energy, and focus the team. Create tangible progress while others spin. Goal #1: Bring the plane down safely. Here’s how to lead through it. Right now: 1. Identify the root cause. Fast. Don’t start without knowing what broke. Fixing symptoms won’t fix the problem. You don’t have time to be wrong twice. 2. Define success. Then get clear on what’s sufficient. What gets us out of the crisis? What’s the minimum viable outcome that counts as a win? This isn’t the time for nice-to-haves. Don’t confuse triage with polish. 3. Align the team. Confusion kills speed. Be explicit about how we’ll operate: Who decides what. What pace we’ll move at. How we’ll know when we’re done Set the system to direct energy. 4. Get moving. Pull the people closest to the problem. Clarify the root cause. Identify priority one. Then go. Get a quick win on the board. Build momentum. Goal one is to complete priority one. That’s it. 5. Communicate like a quarterback Lead the offense. Make the calls. Own the outcome. Give the team confidence to execute without hesitation. Reduce latency. Get everyone in one thread or room. Set fast check-ins. Cover off-hours. Keep signal ahead of chaos. 6. Shrink the loop. Move to 1-day execution cycles. What did we try? What happened? What’s next? Short loops create momentum. Fast learning is fast winning. 7. Unblock the team (and prep the company to help). You are not a status collector. You are a momentum engine. Clear paths. Push decisions. Put partner teams on alert for support. Crises expose systems. And leaders. Your job is to land the plane. Once it’s down, figure out what failed, what needs to change, and how we move forward. Land the plane. Learn fast. Move forward. That’s how successful operators lead through it.

60–70% of pressure comes not from workload, but from unclear communication and misaligned expectations! Leading consulting teams through demanding projects has taught me valuable lessons about maintaining effectiveness under pressure. Here are some approaches that have worked well for me and my teams. 💙 Building Sustainable Systems 1. Clear Communication Channels: One of the most important shifts I made was creating transparency around project constraints and timelines. When teams understand the complete context - including challenges and limitations - they can contribute more meaningfully to solutions. This also helps in setting realistic expectations with stakeholders early on. 2. Iterative Delivery: I've found that delivering work in phases, with opportunities for feedback and refinement, creates better outcomes than trying to achieve perfection in one attempt. This approach allows for course corrections and ensures we're aligned with client needs throughout the project lifecycle. 3. Capacity Planning: Building buffer time into project plans has been crucial. When unexpected requests arise - as they inevitably do in consulting - having some flexibility in the schedule allows the team to respond without compromising quality or well-being. 4. Regular Check-ins: Informal conversations with team members, beyond formal status updates, have proven invaluable. These moments help identify potential roadblocks early and ensure everyone feels supported during intensive project phases. 💙 Continuous Improvement 1. Prioritization: Learning to distinguish between genuinely urgent matters and routine requests has improved our responsiveness. Not every issue requires immediate attention, and being thoughtful about prioritization helps maintain team energy for what truly matters. 2. Balanced Intensity: During particularly demanding phases, I've learned to be transparent about the intensity level and ensure that busy periods are followed by lighter ones. This rhythm helps teams sustain performance over the long term. 3. Leading by Example: Being open about challenges while demonstrating problem-solving approaches builds team confidence. Leadership doesn't mean having all the answers - it means navigating uncertainty thoughtfully alongside your team. 4. The Consulting Journey: High-pressure situations are part of consulting work. Success comes from building systems, teams, and approaches that can handle intensity while maintaining quality and team well-being. What approaches have you found effective in managing demanding projects? Always interested in learning from fellow leaders in this space. #ConsultingLife #TeamManagement #ProjectManagement #ProfessionalGrowth #Consulting

Project management teaches you how to hit deadlines. It rarely teaches you how to protect yourself while doing it. Every project manager knows the drill. Push a little harder. Absorb more tension. Stay calm so others can panic safely. We call it professionalism. But often, it’s just quiet exhaustion. I’ve lived it. Running projects that looked “successful” on paper while my mind was always in recovery mode and my team was slowly running on fumes. Here’s the uncomfortable truth I had to learn: You can’t lead clearly when you’re depleted, and your team can’t execute well when urgency never turns off. In project management, calm isn’t a personality trait. It’s an execution decision. That’s why I stopped glorifying chaos, and started leading with CALM. ✅ Create margin on purpose Not every sprint needs to be full. Margin is how projects survive reality. ✅ Ask how people are doing Not just what they delivered. Emotional data is execution data. ✅ Limit false urgency If everything is urgent, nothing is actually important. ✅ Model calm under pressure Your team follows your nervous system more than your roadmap. I've completed projects that met every milestone yet left team members feeling drained and disconnected. The projects I truly take pride in are those that delivered results while keeping the team intact. Project management isn't just about speed; it's about working effectively with a team that wants to collaborate after the release. The true outcome of a project isn't just the final product; it's the people who remain engaged and united. → Found this useful? Repost ♺ and follow Jesus Romero for grounded PM insights that protect delivery and people.

Most new PMs think handling pressure means doing everything faster. That is exactly how projects spiral out of control. When you have experience, you learn that speed without strategy burns out teams and erodes trust. → You talk to the client before sending anything new. → You re-scope instead of cramming everything in. → You fix root causes instead of pushing harder. → You renegotiate when priorities shift. → You step in to resolve conflict early. Pressure exposes the difference between managing tasks and leading people. An experienced PM knows that protecting the team is the fastest way to protect the project.

Firefighting is not a sign of strength. It’s a sign something upstream is broken. Things catch fire. Everyone rushes in. Adrenaline replaces thinking. And suddenly—urgency feels like productivity. The real business lesson here: Crisis gets rewarded faster than prevention—and that’s exactly why it spreads. At first, it feels heroic. Late nights. Quick fixes. Saving the day. But here’s the uncomfortable truth: Most organizations don’t have a workload problem. They have a systems problem they keep disguising as effort. • Repeated fires are not bad luck • They are unaddressed patterns • And patterns don’t fix themselves You’ve seen it. The same issue returns—just with a different name. The same scramble—just with a new deadline. Because reacting feels like progress. But it isn’t. Reaction sustains the system. Prevention rewrites it. And that’s where the shift is happening. Not from human → AI. But from chaos → clarity. AI doesn’t remove problems. It exposes where thinking should have happened earlier. Here’s a proverb I live by: “Where urgency is constant, design is absent.” Ignore this—and your team won’t burn out from effort. They’ll burn out from repetition. Busy. Capable. Stuck in cycles they didn’t build—but keep maintaining. The strongest leaders don’t celebrate who put out the fire. They ask why it started. Because real performance isn’t measured by recovery. It’s measured by what never breaks. 👇 Where in your team are people being rewarded for fixing… what should have been prevented? 🔁 Repost if prevention beats reaction ✚ Follow Jerry Rassamni for leadership, systems thinking, and long-game wisdom 🚀 #Leadership #SystemsThinking #Strategy #BusinessWisdom #Operations #LongGame

Decision-making under pressure is not about having all the answers. 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭. I’ve realized that when pressure mounts, our instinct is often to overthink or delay. But the real test of leadership and progress is in those moments when time is limited, stakes are high, and you still have to choose a direction. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐬? → 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: You may not know everything, but you know enough to take the next step. → 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: A timely, “good enough” decision often beats a late, perfect one. → 𝐊𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤: Pressure amplifies fear and doubt; the ability to stay calm creates clarity. I remember a time many years back when a major stakeholder gave us less than 𝟒𝟖 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 to turn around a project that 𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤. My first instinct was to push back. But instead, I chose to trust my team’s preparation, simplify the plan, and execute fast. Not only did we deliver, it turned out to be one of our most successful projects, teaching me that clarity and commitment under pressure often matter more than endless planning. Some of my best outcomes have come from decisions I made at the last possible moment, when it felt like the odds weren’t in my favor. 𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤, 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐥𝐮𝐜𝐤; 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐲. I’m curious: How do you approach decision-making when the pressure is at its peak? #DecisionMaking #ClarityUnderPressure #HighStakesDecisions #TrustYourPreparation

From Fire-Fighting to Fire-Prevention: Breaking the Reactive Management Cycle (A Diwali Reflection on Leadership and Light) Last week, one of our Eye-Q centre faced an unexpected manpower crisis. Two members of staff resigned with little notice, just days apart. Patient waiting times almost doubled, and the escalation reached me as well. The centre manager was on the floor, hour by hour, managing patient flow. Concurrently, the manager-in-charge spent three days and nights organizing cover, phoning, negotiating, making stopgap arrangements, just to keep the centre running. By the weekend, things steadied out. When I met him that evening, he explained something which has remained with me: "Sir, we managed… but we shouldn't have had to." That single sentence stuck with me during Diwali week, a festival that reminds us anew each year to bring light where previously it had been darkness. In leadership, too, the light we bring is clarity, processes, vision, and belief that stop fires from igniting. The Real Cost of Fire-Fighting Fire-fighting looks like commitment. It stealthily drains energy, creativity, and morale. 1. Ongoing emergencies drain your best talent 2. Strategic plans get delayed to forever 3. Burnout increases mistakes and turnover 4. Creativity declines when everybody's in survival mode 5. Quality suffers quietly in times of stress Urgency is productive-feeling, but it's not enduring. True leadership isn't a matter of responding faster; it's creating systems that rarely catch fire at all. The Prevention Framework 1. Map Your Fire Patterns Where do emergencies usually begin, manpower, communications, planning. Every repeat crisis is feedback from your system. 2. Create Early-Warning Systems Watch for absenteeism, wait times, and workload disparities. The aim isn't to avoid surprises, it's to catch them early. 3. Strengthen the Foundation Cross-train staff. Documenting critical workflows. Develop backups for key positions. Foundations are your true fire extinguishers. 4. Cultivate a Prevention Culture Reward those who raise small red flags early on. Create psychological safety for giving feedback and speaking the truth. Bury blame with learning. 5. Monitor Prevention Success You will know prevention is working when: - Emergency calls dwindle - Teams stay more level-headed - Patient experience improves - Leaders get more time to think ahead This Diwali, as we light candles at home, let's also light some at our organisations, the candles of prevention. Because prevention is light itself, it protects our people, stabilises our systems, and keeps our culture burning brightly long after the diyas are put out. Every minute that goes into prevention will save hours in cure. The best leaders aren't the ones who handle crises with finesse, They're those who create calm, secure spaces where crises rarely begin. Wishing everyone a Happy Diwali, may your teams stay safe, your systems stay strong, and your journey stay lit.

When I was a Corporate Affairs Director at Centrica, I drilled my comms team on crisis response every two weeks. Here’s why: Real-time pressure doesn’t warn you. And most comms teams aren’t ready - not because they’re not good, but because they’ve never actually practiced how to respond when things go badly wrong. So, when I led the team at Centrica, we built a crisis habit. Every two weeks, we ran a table top exercise: “What would you do right now if this happened?” No slides. No notes. Just talk it through. Once a month, we simulated a real-time crisis across an hour, with new updates and stakeholder pressure added in. Once a quarter, we ran it with another business unit - because most failures happen at the interface between teams. And once a year, we brought in legal, HR, operations - because these are the functions that can really send things sideways if they don't know what to do and when. The goal wasn’t perfection. It was to make crisis response feel routine. That habit helped us sleep at night. And, when something did go wrong, we weren’t scrambling.

The Hidden Cost of Urgent and Important Tasks — And How to Break the Cycle Proactively We’ve all experienced it: that critical email, that last-minute deadline, that customer emergency. Urgent and important tasks grab our full attention — and while some are inevitable, living in "crisis mode" every day drains energy, morale, and creativity. Why it’s draining: Constant urgency triggers high stress and decision fatigue. Teams get stuck reacting instead of building, improving, or innovating. Long-term goals are often sacrificed for short-term survival. Proactive approaches to avoid the urgent-important trap: Schedule Important Work Early: Prioritize major tasks before they become emergencies. Make "deep work" time non-negotiable. Identify Early Warning Signs: Train teams to spot issues before they escalate. Address risks while they’re small. Improve Planning Routines: Break big goals into smaller milestones with clear timelines — reduce last-minute rushes. Empower Autonomy: Equip employees to solve problems at their level instead of escalating every issue into an urgent one. Build Slack into Schedules: Allow buffer time in project plans. A packed calendar leaves no room for the unexpected. Culture of Calm: Encourage a mindset where "everything is urgent" is the exception, not the norm. Clear communication + better systems = less firefighting. A proactive culture isn’t just more productive — it protects your employees' energy, creativity, and well-being. Let’s lead smarter, not just faster. #Leadership #WorkplaceCulture #ProactiveManagement #EmployeeWellbeing #TimeManagement