Importance of Alignment on Project Completion

User needs and business goals rarely align on their own. In my experience, it’s not that teams don’t care, it’s that each part of the system and organization has its own blind spots. • Business leaders want results • Designers want great experiences • Product teams want progress But when these efforts aren’t connected, things break down. Let’s say a stakeholder notices that a competitor’s chat app lets users send voice messages. They decide, “We need that too.” They jump straight to the business outcome, “let’s increase total user engagement”, without thinking about whether this supports a larger business goal, like improving retention among new users or boosting premium feature usage to drive upgrades. Design gets asked to mock it up. They can create a smooth experience, but they’re not sure if voice messages solve a real user need.  Product helps move the idea forward, but no one slows down to ask: Why do users need this? What change are we expecting in the product experience? How will we know if it supports a business goal? So what happens? → Team ships the voice message feature, but optimizes the interface instead of tracking what behavior it changes. → Design measures sentiment and usability, while business tracks engagement, but they never align. → The feature may look polished and even get used, but no one can say if it helped users or the business in a meaningful way. Without connecting user needs to business goals, everyone works hard… but not necessarily together. Teams need to connect the dots from user needs to product outcomes to business goals. When everyone works toward the same change, progress feels good… and the business moves forward. #productdesign #uxmetrics #productdiscovery #uxresearch

I'm Convinced the Biggest Problem in Project Management Is Misalignment. It’s not budgets, timelines, or resources. It’s misalignment! Misaligned goals, priorities, and expectations create ripple effects that derail even the best-planned projects. Here’s how it usually happens: -> Stakeholders want different outcomes. -> Teams don’t fully understand the “why” behind the project. -> Priorities shift without clear communication. When alignment is missing, projects lose focus, collaboration breaks down, and success feels impossible. Here’s what you can do to keep things aligned: ✅ Start every project by ensuring crystal-clear alignment on goals and deliverables. ✅ Communicate the vision and “why” to the team—often and clearly. ✅ Regularly check in with stakeholders to ensure priorities haven’t shifted without your awareness. Great PMs know that alignment isn’t a one-time task. It’s an ongoing effort and the foundation for every successful project. What’s your biggest challenge in keeping teams and stakeholders aligned?

We've spent years pushing for the concept of "better together", advocating for the importance of alignment across sales, product, and success. However, it's time to stop talking about "better together"; we all understand and get it. Let's do, "Together. Better." Especially today, when speed is essential and demanded in everything we do. Speed is seductive. It feels like progress. It looks like momentum. But without alignment, speed just creates motion sickness (OK, so maybe I'm still recovering from thinking about altitude sickness after a week in Peru). You get busy teams chasing goals that are aligned at the 30,000-foot level, but aren't aligned in where the work actually happens. There are unspoken and competing agendas. And fleeting and shallow wins that celebrate individual victories but not company wins. In the end, we're all left with mounting frustration that no one can quite name, but everyone feels. This is one of the hardest balancing acts in leadership: How do we move fast without breaking trust, clarity, or direction? How do we actually do "together, better?" The answer is not to slow down. It is to align more intentionally. More often. And more visibly. Alignment is not a kickoff slide or a mission statement. It is a discipline. A muscle. A shared drumbeat that keeps people running together, not just running. Because without alignment, speed scales confusion. With alignment, speed scales outcomes. My thoughts on three ways to lead with both speed and alignment: 🔹 Communicate decisions out loud. Assume nothing. Clarity compounds when leaders speak directly and often about what is changing and why. I've lost track of the number of times I thought something was communicated clearly, but realized I had been working on a concept for months and had only communicated it to the team for a few days. 🔹 Cascade purpose, not just tasks. When people understand the “why,” they can act faster and smarter without waiting for permission. Prioritize perspective over permission, which means sharing openly, broadly, and consistently enough context to create the perspective that lets people closest to the work make confident, bold, and faster decisions. 🔹 Check for drift. Build in rhythm to realign. Fast-moving teams need regular calibration. Without it, small gaps become big ones. At DISQO, our cross-departmental, recurring meetings are focused on ensuring continued alignment and providing colleagues with the opportunity to understand changes and collaborate on solving gaps together. Are you ready for "Together. Better?" #CreateTheFuture #LeadershipInAction #StrategicAlignment #HighVelocityTeams #LeadWithClarity #ExecutionExcellence #FutureOfLeadership #TeamPerformance #GTMLeadership #CultureOfExecution #ScaleWithPurpose #CustomerSuccessLeadership

Product Management has to be one of the most chaotic jobs in an organization. Working with stakeholders, customers, engineers, executives - days full of meetings with expectations for deep, creative work... and don't forget the strategic high-level work too. Insanity. Whenever I feel too busy, it’s usually because something is off. I slow down and re-align with what really matters…. drop everything else. As a product leader, I feel like I need to do this every 2 weeks (and realistically only get a chance to refocus like this every few months). Are we too busy doing “everything” instead of focusing on what really matters? After 500+ conversations with product leaders, I realized most felt the same way. Strategic misalignment has been one of the most surprising themes in these conversations. Most teams are busy working hard, but without clear alignment to their organization’s strategic goals. The most common challenges I hear: - About 30% of product leaders say the strategic goals they work toward are vague, high-level ideas like "drive revenue." - Another 30% admit their priorities are unclear or change so frequently that it’s impossible to keep teams aligned. "If you ask 3 execs what our goals are, you'll hear 3 different answers". Even when companies do have clear goals, by the time they cascade down to projects, the objectives look more like “Finish Project X by [date]” than “Drive 10% expansion with our enterprise customers.” I recently spoke with a CIO spending $100M per year on product development. When I asked what percentage of that spend was going towards most important business goals, he said 30%. That’s not just misalignment—it’s a massive blind spot. $70M each year going into building other stuff, instead of the goals we should be focused on. Why are we so focused on “doing more” while losing sight of what really matters? How does your team make sure projects are aligned to strategic goals?

🚨 𝐏𝐌𝐎 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 — 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐌𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬? Here’s the hard truth: Executives don’t care how many Gantt charts we’ve created or how many meetings we’ve held. What they do care about is: 📈 Value. 🎯 Results. 🤝 Strategic alignment. 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐏𝐌𝐎 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐬. Here are 5 metrics your PMO should be tracking that executives actually care about: 🔹 1. 𝐁𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 – Are the promised business outcomes being delivered after project completion? Track actual benefits vs. forecasted. 🔹 2. 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐀𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 – What percentage of active projects directly support one or more strategic goals? If the PMO isn’t aligned to strategy, it's just busywork. 🔹 3. 𝐏𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐨 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 – Measure value delivered across the full portfolio (e.g., cost savings, revenue growth, efficiency gains), not just project success. 🔹 4. 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 – How quickly are projects delivering usable value? Not just "on time," but how fast are results feltby the business? 🔹 5. 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐔𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤 – Are your best resources working on the most valuable initiatives, or spread too thin across low-priority efforts? 📊 Tracking these shifts the PMO from a project tracking function to a value-driving partner. 👉 Let’s stop managing to timelines and start managing to impact. 🤔 Has your PMO struggled to convey value to executives? What metrics have made a difference in how your PMO demonstrates value? ♻️ Repost if you liked the content of this post! _________________ 🔔 Ring the bell to follow me on LinkedIn for topics on #ProjectManagement, #ProgramManagement, #PMO, #BusinessTransformation, #CareerTips, and #Leadership. #ProjectManager #ProjectManagementProfessional #BusinessValue #StrategicExecution #KPIs #PortfolioManagement #StrategyRealization

They were doing about $40 million a year when I met them. On paper, they looked like they had arrived. Bigger jobs. Bigger clients. A respected name in their market. But inside the company, it was a different story. Departments were misaligned. Preconstruction chasing one set of goals while Operations chase another. Finance is barely keeping up. Winning work that didn’t always match their strengths. And the cracks were starting to show. The owner told me, “I built this company with my own hands. But now it feels like it’s running me.” That’s the moment I see over and over again. Somewhere between $25 million and $75 million, many contractors hit a wall. I've also been told many times, "It’s not fun anymore". Working harder isn’t the answer. More projects won’t solve it. The game changes. The ones who win at this level stop running faster and start leading differently. Scaling beyond this point is no longer about adding more crews. It’s about creating alignment across every department. It’s about building a culture strong enough to hold up under pressure. At this stage, culture and alignment aren’t nice-to-haves. They’re what hold the company together when the work gets tough. Without them, the company weakens. Departments silo off. Communication breaks down. Blame sets in. Your best people leave. Key clients stop calling. And one bad project can erase years of progress. When leaders take alignment seriously, when they put the systems in place, strengthen the culture, and intentionally build leadership across the company, they get their life back. They stop being the bottleneck. They stop feeling like they’re carrying the whole company on their back. Decisions start happening without them. Accountability spreads across the team. Good people stay. Clients keep coming back. And the business stops running them. That’s the shift I help owners make. Alignment and culture aren’t a one-time push. They’re a muscle. They need to be strengthened and protected every day. Owners breathe in their exhaust day in and day out, at some point, you need a breath of fresh air. That's where a 3rd party comes in. And the owners who do this work early, the ones who stop hoping it’ll “fix itself” and start leading it, experience a very different business. Less stress. More control. Better teams. Stronger reputation. And most of all, more freedom to enjoy what they’ve built. Most owners wait too long to make this shift. Some never do. Hope isn’t a strategy. If you’re waiting for things to fall into place, I can tell you…they won’t. Be proactive. Because reactive leadership will cost you more than you can see right now. #proaccel #teamalignment #nomoreexcuses

Agencies: ALIGN to leadership's BUSINESS initiatives or you'll get fired for doing good work. Here's my formula for leadership alignment: Alongside the client’s decision makers the agency’s account management team (or strategist function) will co-create marketing goals and scope that align with business objectives and cross departmental initiatives already established for the year. This will encourage non-marketing executives to participate in future conversations: maximizing the agency’s visibility with leadership, upsell opportunities and lifetime of client relationships. Meetings 1) Internal Prep Call: The agency sales representative responsible for the sale meets with the lead account manager to review and/or complete the internal account plan and prepare for the workshop with important questions, potential client pushbacks and the ideal roadmap of initiatives for the client. 2) Facilitated Workshop with Client’s Leadership Team: Facilitate a brainstorming session to uncover the greatest business opportunities and challenges from financial, strategic and personal angles. List any current business initiatives and how/when the leadership team will measure the success of these efforts. List potential marketing tactics with high business impact, aligned with their current business initiatives. Establish goal metrics that can be measured by marketing but clearly align with business objectives. Create a preliminary marketing initiative timeline for the year broken up into four quarters to visualize the plan. Include business objectives, marketing goals, team roles, activity timelines and budget requirements. Set expectations for the next “benchmark” step including who will be interviewed and what data will be collected to identify important gaps in the client’s human and organizational capabilities. This will help the agency to set expectations for the timeline results vs investments. Resources Client Strategy Questionnaire: used before the workshop to capture how the client’s leadership does strategic planning and how their plans are documented. Workshop Briefing: sets expectations for who should attend the workshop from the client side, how they should prepare and what they’ll contribute to the discussion. Align Workshop Template: helps account managers facilitate the conversation consistently so that the agency captures all the information it needs to set expectations properly and maximize client results. Industry Research: helps validate the marketing initiatives and their impact on business objectives. This can also motivate leadership to invest in new tactics that their competition is already utilizing. Risks - High level business goals are not established - Limited access to non-marketing executives - The conversation gets too tactical Process visualization cred: Jason Sayen Do you ALIGN or are you reporting on marketing goals that nobody cares about? #agency #servicedesign

You can't manage projects in a silo A perfectly built project plan means nothing if stakeholders aren't aligned. You can have: → The best Gantt chart → The most detailed risk register → A beautifully organized project board But if teams are working in a vacuum. And leadership isn't on the same page. And priorities aren't clear across workstreams. You project WILL struggle. Here's 3 ways to break down silos and keep alignment across projects: ✅ Connect the dots between teams Your project isn't happening in isolation. Misalignment can snowball into major delays. Make sure each workstream understands how their work impacts others, and the bigger picture. ✅ Drive consistent communication (even when it feels redundant) If a stakeholder says "I wasn't aware of that" your project is already at risk. Have multiple, shared communication channels, regular touchpoints, clear documentation, and proactive updates to prevent surprises. ✅ Don't just track progress, track alignment A team hitting an individual milestones doesn't mean the project is on track. Look at dependencies. Look at competing priorities. Look at cross-functional impact and ensure every moving piece is working toward the same goal. Execution absolutely matters. Alignment is what keeps it on track. PS: where have you seen misalignment cause a project to go sideways? 🤙

"We don’t have an alignment problem." That’s what the CEO told me, with complete conviction. But within three minutes, I asked the team one simple question: “What’s our top priority for the next quarter?” 🛑 (Spoiler Alert: this is probably the same problem in your organization..even if you don't think so) Five people. Five completely different answers. ...so five different goals. The room fell silent. The truth is, alignment isn’t just a buzzword—it’s a measurable factor in whether companies thrive or stumble. Research from McKinsey (2023) found that organizations with strong alignment between leadership, strategy, and execution are 2.5 times more likely to outperform competitors in revenue growth. It’s not just about having the right goals. It’s about ensuring everyone in the room—whether it’s five people or five thousand—understands, agrees, and acts in unison. Have you heard the saying: "Culture eats strategy for breakfast" The cost of misalignment? Missed opportunities, wasted resources, and a frustrated team pulling in different directions. When was the last time you asked your team a question and got one clear answer? Because alignment isn’t accidental. It’s intentional.

Here's to illustrate lack of Strategic Fit. Imagine a technology company, let's call it "Tech Innovators," that specializes in developing cutting-edge software solutions for businesses. The company's core strategy is to focus on providing enterprise-level software to large corporations. In this scenario, Tech Innovators had a highly skilled team of engineers and a track record of successful enterprise software projects. However, they decided to take on a project that involved developing a mobile gaming app targeted at casual gamers. While the gaming app project seemed exciting, it didn't align with Tech Innovators strategic focus on enterprise software for large corporations. The decision to undertake the gaming app project was driven by a team member's personal interest in the gaming industry, rather than a strategic fit with the organization's core goals. As a result, the company faced several challenges: - Misalignment of expertise: The company's engineers, had limited experience and expertise in mobile gaming development. This led to delays, quality issues, and frustration within the team. - Resource constraints: Developing a gaming app required different resources and skill sets compared to the company's usual enterprise projects - leading to missed deadlines and dissatisfied clients. - Market positioning: Tech Innovators reputation as an enterprise software provider became diluted as they ventured into the gaming industry. The company struggled to maintain its credibility and differentiate itself in the highly competitive gaming market. - Financial implications: The gaming app project didn't generate the expected revenue due to fierce competition and a lack of expertise in marketing and monetizing gaming apps. This resulted in financial losses for the company. This example shows the importance of aligning projects with organizational strategies. How do you verify whether your efforts and projects are aligned with your overall strategies? #StrategicFit #OrganizationalStrategies #ProjectAlignment #LessonsLearned #wilsonbiz #opportunityframing #opportunityframingworkshops #iwona273