A perfect recipe for Project failure

Scene 1: Missing Transparency. Layers in the project goal.

Client: We have 10 tasks to complete in 10 days

Team: Okay can you please list them

Client: (Shows 20 tasks)

Team: But you just said we have 10 tasks to complete...

Client: Yes. But others are just small tasks that are dependent on the 10 tasks...

Scene 2: Not prioritizing the task

Team: Can we prioritize the tasks?

Client: No. All the tasks are equally important

Team: But we have limited resources and tasks need to be prioritized for delivery so that we can confirm if a timeline of 10 days is enough or not

Client: But the priority is not important as anywho we need to deliver 10(20) tasks at the end of the 10th day.

Scene 3: Limited understanding of Space-time

Team: (After going through the task list and understanding the complete requirement.) We will have to divide tasks into 2 sets as 10 days is a very short time to deliver all 10 tasks... (+ additional 10 attached tasks)

Client: But we only have 10 days and we have a huge media budget aligned for the launch on the 10th day...

Team: We were not made aware of this media activity or there was no consultation made before with the team...

Client: Be positive. You know the Elon Musks' quote

"If you give yourself 30 days to clean your home, it will take you 30 days. But if you give yourself 3 hours, it will take 3 hours."

Team: But Elon does not mention variables like how many resources, how big is the home. He is clearly not talking about cleaning 20 homes in 3 hours by 4 resources. The quote is good but we must not lose the reality of space-time...

Client: You are just giving an excuse even before trying. At least start and let's see how much work is completed on the 5th day and then we can circle back...

Scene 4: Ignoring Inspection and Suggestions

Client: (On day 5) Let's go through the progress

Team: (Showcases 6 tasks that are under review by the QA team) Quality check, bug reporting, and bug fixes are pending it will take another 5 days. That means we can go live with 6 features

Client: Good work team, you have already completed 6 tasks in 5 days. You can easily cover, the remaining 4 tasks by the 10th day.

Team: But sir, Quality check is important we cannot deploy code to production without quality approvals...

Client: But these 4 remaining features are very important for our media activity...

Team: That's why we asked you to prioritize the features in the planning meeting...

Scene 5: Missing Adaptability

Client: We failed to deliver the entire product in the committed timeline...

Team: 10 days was not our committed timeline. We stated challenges and asked for an extension in the timeline...

Client: That's not a positive approach. How can we ensure we deliver the features faster?

Team: Clear solution for this is going Agile. Following Agile principles will help us.

Client: What is this Agile?

Team: To start with... We define clear goals. We define the definition of done. We respect the team members. And we adapt with each review.

Client: Use it if that helps. We are flexible. Please deliver the remaining 14 tasks in 2 days. And all 14 tasks are equally important ??