172# - Stop Running Projects Like Operations—The Key to Transformation Success!
Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez
World Champion in Project Management | Thinkers50 | CEO & Founder | Business Transformation | PMI Fellow & Past Chair | Professor | HBR Author | Executive Coach
Most organizations treat projects as just another operational process—applying the same hierarchical, top-down structures that govern daily operations.
Executives, transformation leaders, and program directors dictate objectives, managers translate them into tasks, and employees execute them with little room for feedback or adaptability.
This hierarchical approach to projects may work in stable, predictable environments, but it's a recipe for failure in today’s fast-moving world of innovation, transformation, and digital disruption.
Organizations cling to top-down project management?face increasing project failure rates, disengaged teams, and a lack of actual value creation. The reason? Projects are fundamentally different from operations. Unlike routine work, projects are temporary, unique, and require cross-functional collaboration. They thrive in transversal, bottom-up environments where knowledge flows across teams, innovation is encouraged, and those closest to the work help shape the solution.
It’s time to challenge the outdated thinking that projects should be managed like operations and embrace the project-driven organization, where projects are led transversally and executed bottom-up.
The Problem with Top-Down, Hierarchical Project Management
The traditional, top-down approach to project management mirrors operational command structures. Senior leaders define the strategy, mid-level managers break it down into execution plans, and employees are expected to deliver according to predetermined instructions.
This model assumes that:
1. Leadership knows best – Strategy is set at the top, and execution follows without question.
2. Project success is about control – Strict governance, detailed upfront planning, and rigid reporting structures will ensure success.
3. People are resources, not contributors – The workforce is seen as a set of hands, not a source of insights and innovation.
Why This Model Fails in Project Environments
While this works in stable, repeatable operational processes, projects are fundamentally different:
? Complexity and Uncertainty – Projects deal with unique challenges, unknowns, and emerging risks. Decisions made at the top often become outdated or impractical as work progresses.
? Cross-Functional Nature – Unlike operations, projects span multiple functions, departments, and expertise areas. A siloed, hierarchical approach slows decision-making and creates misalignment.
? Lack of Adaptability – Projects require learning and iteration. When leadership dictates solutions instead of facilitating collaboration, teams struggle to adapt to change.
? Employee Disengagement – When teams feel like mere executors, they disengage, leading to low ownership, resistance to change, and subpar outcomes.
The statistics confirm this reality:
?? 70% of transformation projects fail due to poor engagement and lack of cross-functional collaboration (McKinsey).
?? Only 35% of projects successfully deliver their intended benefits (PMI Pulse of the Profession).
The Case for a Bottom-Up, Transversal Approach
In contrast to the rigid, top-down model, the bottom-up, transversal approach enables organizations to manage projects with agility, engagement, and adaptability.
What Does a Transversal, Bottom-Up Project Model Look Like?
1. Decentralized Decision-Making – Empower teams to make decisions at the execution point. Leaders set the vision, but teams define how to achieve it.
2. Cross-Functional Collaboration – Projects are managed across functions rather than through rigid departmental silos. Teams co-create solutions, ensuring all perspectives are integrated.
3. Continuous Feedback & Learning – Instead of rigid planning, teams work iteratively, incorporating user, customer, and stakeholder feedback.
4. Employee-Led Innovation – People on the ground are closest to the work and best positioned to identify risks, opportunities, and creative solutions.
How Are You Running Your Projects?
Are your projects still stuck in a hierarchical, top-down model? Or is your organization embracing bottom-up, transversal execution?
I’d love to hear your thoughts! What challenges have you faced in moving towards a project-driven organization? ??
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Thank you for being part of this journey!
Hasta la Vista!
Antonio
Skilled in eye-hand coordination, executive function, and mathematical reasoning.
5 天前The only way to fail fast and get better is to be able to make decisions quickly in real time, without having to present to a board or management, and without having to depend on the little context one gets across in a video call. If you have to stand in line and wave your arms to get leadership’s attention — and they always decide the next steps, it slows everything down — and disengagement happens.
Aportando valor con los proyectos | Director Técnico | Senior Real Estate Project Manager PMP
6 天前Thank you, Antonio, for the outstanding educational work you do in your position to promote project management.
Director general y CEO | Innovación y Liderazgo | Apasionado del Cliente y de las Personas | Transformación Estratégica y Gestión del cambio | Cultura motor de la empresa | Nominado a Ceo por la innovación |
1 周Running a project effectively is like a running a company, every project should be treated as an intra-entrepreneurship, where everything is somehow connected even if we don’t see it. Holistic vision is necessary but taking this holistic approach in execution is a must.
PMO Leadership | Electronics Executive | Waterfall and Agile Product Development
1 周When project fail to meet metrics, executives tend to focus whether they're being run with sufficient "rigor"; i.e. are processes being followed. Much less common to search for root cause. Is leadership effective; does the team have the right skill sets; is the work harder than estimated.
Gerente de Projetos | TI | MBA
1 周Your proposal is very interesting and I understand that it works very well for companies where employees have a sense of ownership and responsibility. For others, I have my doubts. For example: in Brazil, where crises are more constant and profound than in the rest of the world, companies generally keep their management teams centralized and hire cheap labor to carry out their tasks. I understand that it would not work.