How to Get a Stuck Project Un-Stuck

Something happened to me recently that has never happened before…

I was managing a project for several months, and even though the risks were pointing in this direction, and I was doing my best to mitigate them, we reached what seemed like an impasse — the project was just. Well. Stuck.

I stewed over this one. Many stressful days and sleepless nights.

This project was a major initiative and dependency for other crucial projects in the organization’s roadmap.

The team looked to me for advice, but I didn’t have any advice to give. I could only lay out the solutions on the table, and the pros, cons, and risks of each, and help facilitate making a decision.

The project’s subject matter was also super technical, and the project lead had more knowledge of the data and risks involved as well as institutional knowledge than anyone else.

And even she was stuck.

Everyone was stuck.

But we had to get unstuck.

Fellow project managers, maybe this has happened to you before. Maybe you have remediation tactics to get a project back on track.

Leaders, maybe you’ve been frustrated with your project team due to the lack of progress made on a project. Or maybe you feel like…