Plans Don’t Deliver Projects. People Do.
What to do when your team is stuck (but the plan still looks fine)
👋 Hey, Carlos here! Welcome to “The Holistic Leader”, your weekly source of simple and honest leadership, Agile, Management & team insights.
The plan was perfect. The people weren’t.
I’ve been in this spot more than once trying to hold it all together.
I've had projects where everything looked right:
The plan was solid.
Milestones were clear.
Resources were lined up.
The team agreed on scope and timelines.
Everyone said “yes” in the planning meetings.
And still, something went wrong.
I’d join standups and hear mostly the same thing each day.
The plan wasn’t the problem.
The people were just out of sync, and it happens in most teams.
I talk more about this in here:
When the symptoms don’t match the data
I remember one project where everything looked fine on paper.
Standups were happening.
Tasks were getting moved to “Done.”
Velocity looked stable.
But the energy was off.
People weren’t talking beyond the basics and small issues went unspoken.
No tool or dashboard would catch it.
But as a coach and leader, it was my job to notice it, and do something about it.
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What I did (and still do)
Here’s how I’ve handled these moments, across teams and roles:
1. Say what others feel, But aren’t saying
I’d say something simple like:
We’re getting things done, but it feels a bit disconnected. Anyone else feeling that?
That tiny opening changes everything, and suddenly we’re not pretending anymore.
2. Bring back the “Why”
Sometimes we need to stop and ask:
Why are we doing this again? What are we really building here?
Because when people only focus on tasks, they forget the purpose.
When they remember the outcome, they show up differently.
3. Make ownership obvious
When roles are unclear, things slow down.
So we stop and sort it out:
Who owns this?
Who supports?
What’s not clear yet?
Writing it down makes a big difference.
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4. Ask the friction question
One of my go-to questions:
“What’s something slowing you down, but we haven’t talked about yet?”
You’d be surprised what comes out:
Cross-team blockers
Misunderstood priorities
Quiet tension
People often know the issue.
They’re just waiting for a safe moment to say it (Allow that moment).
Your job isn’t just delivery
The deeper lesson for me is this:
You're not managing stories.
You're leading people.
You’re paying attention to what’s not being said.
You’re holding space when things get messy.
You’re willing to pause the work to care for the team doing it.
That’s leadership.
It doesn’t always look productive.
But it’s what keeps projects from quietly falling apart.
What I’ve learned (Again and Again)
Plans are helpful.
Backlogs matter.
But none of that moves a project forward if people are out of sync.
You can’t see disconnection in Jira.
You feel it in the silences, in the “I’m fine” answers, in the drop in energy.
And as a leader, whether you’re a Scrum Master, a PM, or a coach, you need to call it when you see it.
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Thanks for reading
See you next week!
- Carlos✌️
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