faithpeterson

Alex stared at the project status spreadsheet one more time, hoping the numbers might somehow rearrange themselves. Six months in, and still nothing users could actually touch. Just expanding work breakdown structures and revised estimates that kept pushing delivery further into next year. Another milestone had quietly slipped last week. Jordan had stepped in to exercise more “oversight.”

Alex fiddled with the coffee maker as they watched Sam and a teammate updating something on the project board. Alex realized that what looked like hi-fi mockups were live demo images. There was a count of features delivered versus remaining. Sam looked genuinely excited, pointing at one of the images while explaining something. No stressed shoulders, no apologetic tone – just two people celebrating progress Alex could actually see from across the break room.

The machine's final gurgle snapped Alex back. They grabbed their coffee and walked over. “Your project seems to be going well,” Alex said, trying to keep the envy out of their voice. Sam grinned. “We just finished our fourth demo. Want to see what we built this sprint?”

Over the next week, Alex found reasons to walk past the glass-walled conference room where Sam's team gathered each morning. Quick conversations, people pointing at screens, sometimes laughter. Nothing like their own daily status calls with muted phones and people multitasking. But it was Sam's weekly meeting that really caught Alex's attention. What looked like mockups on the screen were actually live software – Sam clicking through features, testing workflows, making decisions on the spot. When Sam suggested changes, the conversation wasn't about requirements or scope creep. It was about whether this feedback mattered more than the next item they'd planned to build.

Alex realized they hadn't actually used anything from their own project yet. Six months of detailed specifications, but nothing to click.

“Sam, can I ask you something?” Alex caught up with them by the elevator. “Your weekly demos – how did you figure out how to make those so... productive? My status meetings feel like damage control.” Sam's face lit up. “Honestly? It's Terry. They joined us three months ago and completely changed how we work. I used to think my job was setting the vision and getting out of the way. Terry showed me that the best decisions happen when you can see the software working and make tiny course corrections every week.” Sam paused. “Want me to introduce you? Terry's helped a bunch of teams figure this out.”

Alex nodded before Sam finished the sentence.

Two weeks later, Alex was staring at working software on their laptop. Not polished, not complete, but undeniably real – a basic workflow that imported data from their biggest source and displayed it in a simple dashboard. Terry had spent one afternoon with Alex's team, asking questions that seemed obvious in hindsight: “Which data source would prove the concept fastest? What's the simplest report that would make you confident this is heading the right direction?” No process overhaul, no methodology lectures. Just a few targeted questions that helped Alex realize they'd been planning the cathedral when they needed to build the chapel first.

But the real surprise had come from Jordan. Alex's executive sponsor had appeared at their office door the day after meeting Terry. Jordan paused at Alex's door, almost as if waiting to be invited in. They tapped lightly on the open door. “Hey, Alex – about those daily reports,” Jordan had said. “Let's stop them. What if we started over with what you think might actually work?” For the first time in months, they'd had a real conversation about the actual work instead of metrics about the work. Jordan listened without defending, asked questions without hidden agendas. Alex felt like they finally had an ally instead of an overseer.

Now Alex was preparing for their first real demo, nervous but genuinely excited to show stakeholders something they could actually click.

Three months later, Alex barely recognized their own project meetings. Instead of defending timeline slips the delivery team and product manager were working out what made sense to create next. The team had demoed six updates, each one small but immediately useful. Users were already benefiting from features Alex had expected to see “someday” – and their feedback was shaping what got built next. The project was still ambitious, still complex, but Alex no longer dreaded Monday morning status calls. Jordan had become a partner as they looked forward to seeing what had emerged over the weekend and deciding what mattered most for the sprint ahead.