Project Delivery: Somewhere Between Plan A and Reality

Project delivery often begins with a clear plan, yet along the way, timelines can shift, teams may change, priorities can start competing, and decisions are sometimes made with only partial information – often while work is already in motion. This talk will explore how delivery adapts under these evolving conditions, and how teams navigate moments where expectations and reality gradually need to be brought back into alignment.

Viewed through the lens of the project lifecycle, the session will examine delivery challenges that tend to surface across different types of projects: early alignment that feels solid but incomplete, mid-project recalibration when assumptions are tested, and the final push toward launch where trade-offs become unavoidable. These stages will be used to unpack how momentum is sustained or recovered, how decisions are made under pressure, and how expectations are managed without defaulting to heavy resets or unnecessary escalation.

Across these stages, project delivery unfolds as a collective, evolving effort, shaped by collaboration, communication, and day-to-day judgment. The focus remains on the real-world responses teams rely on – the check-ins, course corrections, and small calls that rarely appear in a plan but ultimately determine whether delivery moves forward as complexity emerges during execution.

Maitreyie Chavan