Category Archives: Project Management

Rethinking RACI: Empowering Innovation by Redesigning Governance

September 1, 2025 By in Management, Project Management, Executive Insight
This entry is part 1 of 2 in the series Authority = Accountability

Governance That Blocks Progress

The RACI model — Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed — was created to bring role clarity to complex projects. But in modern organizations, particularly those navigating innovation, digital transformation, or strategic initiatives, it often has the opposite effect: it introduces confusion, slows progress, and embeds shadow vetoes.

Worse still, RACI disempowers the very executives it’s meant to support. By separating accountability from authority, embedding informal veto points in the name of consultation, and distributing responsibility without granting decision rights, RACI can make even senior leaders feel like process managers rather than outcome owners. It fosters caution over courage, consensus over clarity, and bureaucracy over boldness.

At its core, RACI assumes good faith, clear lines of authority, and efficient decision-making. But in practice, especially in politicised or siloed organizations, it can lead to blurred responsibility, hidden power dynamics, and performative accountability. Continue reading →

Successful Project Management at the Executive Level

November 10, 2014 By in Project Management Tags: ,

The dream: A management team meets to deal with an opportunity or challenge. After some discussion a decision is made. Goals are decided. A project leader is appointed. A short number of weeks later the project leader calls a management meeting to present his deliverables. Management agrees that the deliverables have been met. The project is closed.

The reality (you know where this is going, don’t you?): A management team meets to deal with an opportunity or challenge. After some discussion a decision is made. Goals are decided. A project leader is appointed. Time passes. Nothing happens. The opportunity starts fading, or the challenge gets worse. More management meetings are called. The team leader gives his excuses. Management update the goals. This cycle is iterated until the opportunity disappears or the challenge becomes a crisis. Continue reading →

My Zawya Story: Negative Cash Flow Lessons

October 29, 2014 By in Project Management Tags: , ,

This post is part of the My Zawya Story series.

Negative cash flows are a standard feature of any start up and most SMEs when they go through a negative economic cycle. Anyone who has been through that knows well the sheer terror of wondering what he will tell his team on pay day when he does not have the funds to pay their salaries, or what he will tell suppliers, or how he can explain to his shareholders that he needs more funding. It is a sobering experience. Continue reading →

Extracting Value from Consultants

October 23, 2014 By in Project Management Tags: , 1 Comment

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A standard joke in business is that consultants work by asking existing employees for the solution and then packaging it nicely, rubber stamping it and presenting it as their solution to senior executives. The pervasiveness of this joke in business points to the the deeply held belief that this characterisation of consultants is true. Although the frustrations that businesses have in working with consultants is clear, the implication that consultants cannot add value beyond providing a stamp of external approval is false and quite unfair.

Continue reading →