By Michael F. Walker

When a project derails, people love to blame the deadline. “It was too aggressive.” “Leadership pushed the date.” “We needed more time.”

But here’s the truth no one wants to admit: deadlines don’t kill projects—silence does.

Let me explain.

A few years ago, I joined a project midstream at a global logistics company. The timeline was tight, yes—but doable. The real issue? No one was talking.

Let’s call the leads Sarah, Greg, and Binita.

Sarah was head of product. She didn’t want to “alarm leadership” by flagging delays.
Greg was the dev lead, holding onto blockers he thought were “temporary.”
And Binita? She was in QA, finding critical issues no one asked her about.

Three brilliant people. Zero communication.

By the time I got involved, the silence had metastasized into mistrust. Every team was assuming the worst of the others. “Product isn’t telling us the truth.” “Dev isn’t really blocked.” “QA is being too picky.”

What broke the cycle?
A single meeting. No slides. No agenda. Just real talk.

Everyone aired what they hadn’t said. And once the truth was on the table, the team clicked into place. They didn’t hit the original date—but they launched with full stakeholder confidence and zero post-launch issues.

Here’s the takeaway:
Communication isn’t about meetings. It’s about saying the thing everyone’s afraid to say. And that starts at the top.