The Biggest Mistake I See on Capital Projects
It Starts Before the Project Does
I have spent years managing capital projects, and there’s one pattern I see over and over.
Projects don’t usually fail because someone poured concrete wrong or installed the wrong equipment.
They fail because the project wasn’t clearly defined before execution ever started.
Everyone wants to talk about schedules, budgets, and Gantt charts. Those matter—but they’re not where successful projects begin.
Successful projects start with clarity.
Before a dollar is spent, everyone should be able to answer a few simple questions:
What problem are we actually solving?
What does success look like?
Who owns the decision?
What assumptions are we making?
What could derail this project before we even start?
When those questions aren’t answered, teams spend months solving the wrong problems.
I’ve seen million-dollar projects delayed because no one aligned on scope early enough. I’ve also seen relatively small projects finish ahead of schedule simply because everyone knew exactly what “done” looked like.
One lesson I’ve learned is this:
Confusion compounds. Clarity compounds faster.
The more time you invest defining the project upfront, the less time you’ll spend fighting change orders, explaining decisions, and putting out fires later.
It’s not glamorous work.
But it’s the work that separates good project managers from great ones.
Over the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing the tools, templates, and systems I’ve used to manage capital projects more effectively—from early feasibility through execution and closeout.
If you’re responsible for delivering projects, I hope you’ll follow along.
