Avoiding the “Dark Twisty Turn-filled Tunnel Syndrome”

By Bob McGannon, PMP

Many a well conceived project ends up in the scrap heap because of inadequate expectation setting, or sponsors and key stakeholders that become disinterested or impatient with projects that don’t produce deliverables quickly enough. These projects, after creating an initial buzz, appear to enter “a dark twisty tunnel” where the light from the tunnel entrance is no longer seen, the tunnel exit is nowhere in sight, and inadequate milestones exist to indicate forward progress. Avoiding this trap is no trivial matter, as it is more than just defining milestones for your project. Intense planning, extra care with estimating, and segmenting your product solutions into meaningful phases are critical to avoiding this “dreaded tunnel.” Here are our recommendations for keeping your project in “the light of day;” avoiding cancellation or a drop in priority due to the “dark twisty turn-filled tunnel syndrome.”

Define Meaningful Milestones

Milestones are a basic part of every well constructed project schedule. They establish points in time where significant events have been carried out, deliverables have been produced, or stage gates have been reached. Often these milestones are inserted in the schedule by project managers without applying a long term view to managing stakeholder perceptions. Certainly, there are “natural” milestones such as reaching stage gates which are appropriate. However, if one defines and applies milestones with an eye toward demonstrating meaningful business progress, a greater good comes from these indicators of progress on the project. The key to making this work is to tie milestones to events that stem from the business purpose for executing the project. Thus, milestones can (and should!) be defined prior to completing a detailed schedule.

Milestones that are meaningful to business sponsors can be derived as part of, or shortly after, the creation of the project charter. These can then be modified as initial planning and solution concept development are completed, with involvement from the sponsor and key stakeholders. These milestones, created and modified with customer involvement, are then inserted into a detailed project schedule, along with the project progress milestones such as the entering of a stage gate.

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