Staying Focused:
Keeping the Team On Track
Setting up a strong foundation is just the beginning. The real test lies in maintaining focus when priorities shift, challenges emerge, and new demands arise. Keeping the team grounded and adaptable ensures the project stays on track.
Connect to Reality
Stakeholders can change during the project. Stakeholders—people affected by your project, such as end users, customers, executives reviewing reports, or budget managers tracking expenses—often have evolving needs. Business priorities shift, and external factors can crash into even the best-laid plans. Staying grounded means keeping the team connected to what truly matters through regular feedback loops and adaptable planning.
“The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.” — Bruce Lee
Understand the critical players. Stakeholders are individuals or groups with a vested interest in the outcome. Knowing who they are and what they need is key to keeping the project relevant.
Adapt and check in regularly. Flexibility is essential. Regular check-ins with stakeholders ensure the team can adjust to changes and deliver real value.
Short-term plans keep things flexible. Breaking big goals into manageable steps helps the team stay responsive and effective as conditions change.
Practical Tip: Establish regular feedback sessions with stakeholders. Open, honest communication ensures the team stays on track and aligned with the project’s purpose.
Avoid Gold-Plating
Simplicity is powerful. The urge to over-deliver often leads to adding unnecessary features—a practice known as gold-plating. While it might seem impressive, gold-plating wastes time, resources, and can even introduce risks.
It’s tempting to add every good thing you can think of, but every new feature also brings extra cost, time, and complexity. The result? Delays and distractions from the project’s core goals.
Focus on the essentials. Stick to stakeholder-defined “must-haves” and leave “nice-to-haves” for later.
Practical Tip: Start with a "minimum viable product" (MVP) that delivers the essential functionality. Use feedback from the MVP to guide additional features based on real-world insights.
Watch Out for Hidden Incentives
Hidden incentives quietly shift focus. Stakeholders or team members may push for features that serve personal preferences or prestige rather than project goals. These can quietly derail progress.
Bring every request back to the goal. Evaluate how each request aligns with project objectives and call out anything that doesn’t. Ask, “How does this serve the project’s goals?” This keeps the team focused on delivering meaningful results.
Preparation and Planning Essentials
Big tasks can feel overwhelming. Breaking them into smaller, phased steps makes them manageable. This reduces stress and keeps progress steady.
“A goal without a plan is just a wish.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Focus on the “monkey,” not the “pedestal.” Astro Teller’s “Monkey and Pedestal” analogy explains this perfectly: If your goal is to teach a monkey to juggle while standing on a pedestal, start with the juggling. The pedestal is easy—if you can’t teach the monkey to juggle, there’s no point in building it. Tackle the hardest, most critical tasks first. (Source)
Understand the critical path. The critical path is the sequence of tasks that determines the project’s completion time. These are often the riskiest and most complex steps. Addressing them early prevents bottlenecks and smooths the way for the rest of the project.
Practical Tip 1: Identify the toughest challenges (the “monkeys”) and tackle them first. This ensures the critical path is addressed early, making progress smoother.
Practical Tip 2: Assign clear ownership for each task. Even if a group works on it, one person should be responsible for ensuring it’s done right. Ownership prevents confusion and keeps tasks on track.
Momentum Matters
Staying focused is an ongoing effort. A strong start doesn’t guarantee success. Challenges and distractions will arise. The key is maintaining momentum by solving problems early, focusing on essentials, and aligning the team.
Momentum comes from consistency, not just progress. Small wins—like solving a tricky problem or hitting a key milestone—build morale and keep the team moving forward.
Practical Tip: Celebrate progress often. Call out both team and individual efforts to keep spirits high. Reflect regularly on what’s working and what’s next—it keeps everyone motivated and on track.
Starting strong is important, but staying focused makes a project succeed. Keeping the team grounded, tackling the hardest problems first, and maintaining steady momentum allow you to turn plans into real results—even when challenges arise.
Special thanks to Al, my ChatGPT AI assistant, for helping me research and build this post.
That's My Perspective.