Lessons Learned from Past Projects

‼️ I made these mistakes, and my water project failed. It was my first year on site as a young, eager engineer. I was supervising a rural water reticulation project in Esigodini . We were behind schedule and over budget. Pressure was high. Decisions had to be made , and I made the wrong ones. To cut costs, we started compromising on construction standards. At the time, it felt justifiable. But it wasn’t long before the system started failing. And it hurt. I had to watch a community's hope for clean water fade because of decisions I approved. Here’s where I went wrong: 1️⃣ Improper Bedding & Backfilling I allowed pipes to be laid directly on rocky ground with minimal bedding. No proper compaction. It looked like progress, but beneath the surface, it was a disaster in waiting. 2️⃣ No Thrust Blocks at Key Points On bends and critical junctions, we skipped thrust blocks to save time and concrete. When the pumps were activated, joints burst open like a balloon under pressure. I also overlooked proper jointing techniques and quality assurance checks. HDPE welds weren't inspected. Ductile iron pipes were joined in haste. No supervision. No second eyes. Just assumptions. (This is where you need an experienced foreman) 🎯 Lesson learned? Even the best designs fail without proper execution. And in Africa, where every drop of clean water matters, we can’t afford to get it wrong. Africa doesn’t need more pipes, it needs better pipe-laying practices. “It’s not always poor design that kills water projects , it’s poor execution. I learned that the hard way, so you don’t have to.”

We were killing it for our clients... right up until we nearly crashed the entire project. Here's why... 👉 Tailored software project? ✅ Tight deadline? ✅ Multiple clients at the same time? ✅ A hyper-focused "client comes first" mindset? 100%! Unfortunately, that focus was SO intense that we nearly created a major bottleneck with another key stakeholder nearing capacity, with deadlines missed on an existing task that was essential for our client's launch feature, almost throwing the entire project off track! Missed dependencies nearly blew the whole scope wide open! Realizing the potential scope impact, I swiftly conducted a stakeholder evaluation. The findings revealed the strain on our key contractor. Lesson learned - it's not just about customers; all stakeholders matter! I reshaped our strategy, incorporating key stakeholder constraints into the plan. Communication became key – sharing customer requirements and aligning with stakeholders transformed our approach. 👍 The result? Successful project delivery achieved within budget and on time, with the following three lessons learned to share: 1️⃣ Stakeholder identification isn't a "do it once" task. Ongoing evaluation catches hiccups BEFORE they become disasters. 2️⃣ "Client Satisfaction" tunnel vision is a real "bad" risk. It's stakeholders (Plural, internal and external!) - each has requirements that make or break our outcomes. 3️⃣ Project Management IS dynamic communication. Sharing how client changes impacted others gave us room to re-plan and hit even those aggressive goals. Have you ever been so client-focused that you risked the whole project? Share your lessons learned (we all have some!) below 👇

I spent my 30s managing enterprise IT projects. Here’s what I wish I knew at 29. 1/ Getting teams to simply talk is most of the battle. 2/ Getting sign-off (actual sign-off) on scope will save your bacon. 3/ The right time to think about risks is before you notice problems. 4/ No one is thinking about your project as much as you are. (/should be) 5/ When you have to ask ‘whose job is that?’, it’s probably your job. 6/ If someone asks you if you can do something ‘just this once’ it’s probably their job. 7/ If you do something once, it will be expected for every project in perpetuity. 8/ Understanding *why* someone is making an unusual request will give you insights. 9/ Seeing into the future is a superpower developed through experience. 10/ Senior PMs have good stories. Ask them to share. 11/ Every exec has (at least) two tones. The one they use among piers, and the one they’ll use 1:1. Don’t be startled. 12/ The first step in planning should be to define what you’ll do when things don’t go to plan. 13/ Planning is useful only if that plan quickly evolves into actual work. 14/ Repetition in meetings helps define expectations. Expectations help with accountability. Accountability is how you influence without authority. 15/ Holding people accountable—without being a jerk—is how you preserve relationships. 16/ Don’t ask if something is ‘in progress’. Ask ‘how much work is left’. Use percentages. 17/ Budget more time than you need. Then push hard to use less time than budgeted. 18/ Expect things to go sideways so you’re never surprised--and so you're always ready to act. 19/ Don’t burn bridges. Assume you’ll have another project with them. 20/ Trust is the single most valuable currency in project management. What are your lessons learned?  ____ 👋 Follow me Timothy Morgan for more about enterprise project management.

💡 Hardest Project, Biggest Lessons Every IT leader has that one project that stretched them to the limit. For me, it wasn’t about technology failing. It was about people, mindset, and alignment. Here are the top lessons that have stayed with me: 1️⃣ Clarity beats complexity The hardest problems weren’t technical; they were misunderstandings. Clear goals, roles, and communication saved us more than any tool or framework. 2️⃣ Mindset over methodology Agile, waterfall, hybrid, it didn’t matter. What made or broke momentum was the team’s willingness to adapt and trust each other. 3️⃣ Leadership means holding space In high-pressure moments, my job wasn’t to solve every issue. It was to create a safe space where the team could bring ideas forward and own the solution. 4️⃣ Alignment beyond the walls Integrating supplier partners into the project from the start created shared accountability and improved delivery speed. True alignment extends beyond the core team. 5️⃣ Culture builds resilience Encouraging every voice, valuing diverse perspectives, and focusing on individual growth made the team stronger and more innovative. 🚀 The project delivered in the end, but the real win was the growth of the team and the resilience we built together. 👉 Your turn: What’s the hardest project you’ve worked on, and what lesson did you carry forward? #Leadership #DigitalTransformation #Teamwork #LessonsLearned

After completing over 300 IT projects, I’ve learned one thing: Frameworks like Agile, Scrum, and Six Sigma are great… in theory. In real life? Projects rarely go as planned. Why? Because things happen. - Plans change. - Approvals get stuck. - Shipments are late. - People on medical leave. And suddenly, that perfect framework feels useless. Sound familiar? Here’s what I’ve learned after 300+ IT projects: - Start with the End Date: Lock in your target deadline. That’s your anchor. - Work Backwards: Build the timeline in reverse. It’s the only way to stay realistic. - Set Milestones: Break the project into chunks you can actually hit. - Focus, Focus, Focus: Forget perfection. Just hit those milestones, one by one. That’s it. No over-complicating. Just clear steps to move forward. My Biggest Takeaway Frameworks are helpful, but flexibility wins.  Plans change, and that’s okay. The goal isn’t to follow a framework — it’s to deliver results. What about you? How do you handle it when plans fall apart?

A little more than 7 years after co-founding Nori, I've finally found the words to share our journey's end. This September, we wound down operations and sold off our final assets. When I started my carbon removal meetup in 2015, large-scale removal wasn't even considered possible. We were just a dozen people meeting monthly in Seattle, sharing whatever papers and articles we could find about pulling CO2 from the atmosphere. There wasn't even a term for it yet—we called it carbon capture because "carbon removal" hadn't entered the lexicon. That small meetup launched me into a hackathon and then eventually a company with six cofounders that became something remarkable. We built one of the first carbon removal marketplaces, created the first soil carbon methodology focused on removal, raised $20M, grew to a 30-person team, accounted for hundreds of thousands of tonnes of CO2 stored in soils, and helped catalyze an entirely new industry. We had finally cracked the supply-side challenge with hundreds of thousands of carbon removal credits from our Bayer partnership to sell and were ramping up our sales engine when we ultimately ran into the headwinds facing the voluntary carbon market, and investors pulled back just as we needed additional runway. The last two years have been profoundly difficult for me personally, experiencing three distinct waves of grief: stepping down as CEO, leaving the company, and finally, winding it down. But looking back at what I told our advisor in 2017—that I'd be happy if all we did was kick off the carbon removal industry—I'm proud to say we succeeded beyond all possible expectations. I've written two pieces about this journey and the critical lessons learned: 1. The $2.5M governance mistake that contributed to our end https://lnkd.in/gGUUN3Gm 2. Reflections on pioneering carbon removal and what comes next https://lnkd.in/gZHrTXCK These experiences inspired my new newsletter "Inevitable & Obvious," focused on helping founders create categories that don't exist yet. I learned a lot of very expensive lessons, and I want to share them so that others don't have to learn them the hard way. Subscribe here: https://lnkd.in/g7RnMnXT #startups #climatetech #lessons #entrepreneurship

Ever wondered what a failed project can teach you? Here’s the truth: 𝑭𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒓! 5 Lessons from a Failed Geospatial Project! After facing my fair share of setbacks in geospatial projects, I’ve learned that each failure holds a lesson that reshapes how we approach future work at New Light Technologies Here’s what I learned—and how it’s transformed my entire process: 1️⃣ 𝘾𝙡𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙊𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙭𝙞𝙩𝙮 What Went Wrong: We tried to solve everything, and in the end, we solved nothing. Focus on one clear goal at a time. Simplify the problem, and progress will follow. 2️⃣ 𝘿𝙖𝙩𝙖 𝙌𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 = 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙟𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙌𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 What Went Wrong: Poor data quality led to outputs no one trusted.  The Fix: Invest in data validation—quality is always more important than quantity. 3️⃣ 𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙞𝙨 𝙆𝙚𝙮 What Went Wrong: Miscommunication caused misaligned expectations across teams.  The Fix: Regular, open communication keeps everyone aligned and on track. 4️⃣ 𝙋𝙡𝙖𝙣 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙎𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 What Went Wrong: The system couldn’t scale, leaving users frustrated.  The Fix: Design with growth in mind. Ensure systems are built to adapt. 5️⃣ 𝘼𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙄𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨 > 𝙋𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙮 𝙈𝙖𝙥𝙨 What Went Wrong: Beautiful maps that didn’t help drive decisions.  The Fix: Focus on actionable insights. Results speak louder than aesthetics. Failure isn’t the end—it’s the beginning of a new approach. Ready to turn your data into actionable insights? Let’s collaborate at newlighttechnologies.com to bring your next project to life. Follow Ghermay A. #Geospatial #Lessons #innovation #DataScience #ProjectManagement

Five years ago, I was part of an ERP rollout that FAILED—spectacularly. It was a mid-sized manufacturing company, and they were ready to take their operations to the next level. The leadership team was enthusiastic, the ERP system was top-tier, and the budget? Healthy. But within three months, the cracks began to show: ❌ Teams were overwhelmed and disengaged. ❌ Processes didn’t align with the system. ❌ UAT was rushed, leaving critical issues unresolved. By the time we hit go-live, it was chaos. Orders were delayed, inventory was misplaced, and morale hit rock bottom. What went wrong? Looking back, the mistakes were clear: #1. We prioritized speed over alignment. Discovery was rushed, and the implementation partner didn’t fully understand the nuances of the business. #2. Change management was an afterthought. People didn’t know how this “new system” fit into their day-to-day workflows. #3. We underestimated testing. The team treated UAT like a checkbox instead of a critical safety net. It was a hard pill to swallow, but here’s the silver lining: failure taught us exactly how to do it better. What did we learn? When we rebooted the project months later, here’s what made the difference: ✓ Listening deeply. We revisited processes, engaged teams, and ensured the system fit the business—not the other way around. ✓ Prioritizing people. We brought end-users into the fold early and often, with hands-on training and a focus on “what’s in it for them.” ✓ Testing like our lives depended on it. We pressure-tested every scenario, uncovering critical issues before go-live. The second launch wasn’t just successful—it became a turning point for the company. 📈 Five years later, they’re thriving, and that ERP system has scaled with them every step of the way. Here’s the truth: ERP projects don’t fail because of technology—they fail because people, processes, and systems aren’t aligned. 💬 What’s your biggest “lesson learned” during an ERP rollout? Share your story. I’d love to hear it. 👇 Follow me at Shobha Moni to get the best out of your favourite ERP system.

The Lesson from My Worst Project Failure (And why assumptions are dangerous) I once thought I understood everything. During one project, the requirements seemed clear — or so I assumed. Turns out, I missed the small stuff. A minor miscommunication led to weeks of rework. The client was frustrated. The team was exhausted. And I? I learned a hard lesson. The problem? I didn’t ask enough questions. Here’s what I do now: → No assumptions — I confirm every detail. → Document everything — A clear paper trail saves time. → Over-communicate — If in doubt, ask twice. That project wasn’t my proudest. But it shaped the way I work today. PS: Ever faced a project failure? Tell me what it taught you. Ghazi Khan