Lesson 20: Managing the Unmanageable – When Everything Goes Wrong

By Tom Jones, IT Project Manager

Welcome back to my 21-part series on lessons learned throughout my IT project management career. Today, we’re tackling the nightmare scenario every project manager will eventually face—when everything goes wrong at once.

Some projects spiral into chaos due to technical failures, leadership changes, budget cuts, or just plain bad luck.

• Stakeholders are furious.

• Deadlines are missed.

• The team is burned out.

• You feel like you’re trying to hold everything together with duct tape.

But here’s the thing: Every project crisis can be turned around—if you know how to take control.

In today’s lesson, I’ll cover: ✅ The worst IT project meltdown I ever managed. ✅ Why projects spiral out of control—and how to stop it. ✅ The five key steps to regain control when chaos hits. ✅ How ezRACI helps prevent and recover from project disasters.

The Project That Almost Took Me Down

In 2023, I was leading a multi-million-dollar cloud migration when everything imploded at once.

🚨 Three weeks before go-live:

• A critical security flaw was discovered, requiring a full re-architecture.

• The vendor’s lead engineer quit, leaving us without key expertise.

• The CFO froze additional funding, forcing us to cut resources.

• Leadership was demanding updates every 24 hours.

It was chaos.

The team was overwhelmed, leadership was panicking, and I was on the verge of burning out completely.

That’s when I realized: When projects go off the rails, you have to stop reacting and start leading.

Why Projects Spiral Out of Control

Most project failures aren’t caused by one big mistake. They happen because small problems pile up until they reach a breaking point.

Here are the most common causes:

❌ Poor risk management – No one planned for worst-case scenarios. ❌ Scope creep overload – Leadership keeps adding new demands. ❌ Lack of ownership – Everyone assumes “someone else” is handling the crisis. ❌ No clear priorities – The team is drowning in tasks, unsure what matters most. ❌ Communication breakdowns – Stakeholders are out of sync, leading to frustration and finger-pointing.

When these problems stack up, you get the perfect storm of disaster.

The 5-Step Crisis Recovery Plan

If your project is spiraling out of control, follow these five steps to regain control.

✅ Step 1: Stop Everything and Assess the Situation

❌ What happens: Teams keep pushing forward, making the situation worse.

✅ Fix it:

• Hit pause and gather all key stakeholders.

• Identify the root causes of the crisis.

• Separate real emergencies from minor issues.

✅ Step 2: Reprioritize and Reset Expectations

❌ What happens: Leadership still expects the original plan to be delivered.

✅ Fix it:

• Define what must be fixed now vs. what can wait.

• Communicate a revised timeline and scope to leadership.

• Set realistic expectations—and get executive buy-in.

✅ Step 3: Assign Ownership and Accountability

❌ What happens: Everyone assumes someone else is fixing the problems.

✅ Fix it:

• Use a RACI matrix (via ezRACI) to clarify responsibilities.

• Assign a crisis response lead for each major issue.

• Ensure decision-making is centralized and efficient.

✅ Step 4: Communicate Clearly and Frequently

❌ What happens: Stakeholders panic due to lack of updates.

✅ Fix it:

• Set up daily standups for the core team.

• Provide short, factual updates to executives.

• Keep communication focused on solutions, not just problems.

✅ Step 5: Implement a Lessons Learned Process

❌ What happens: The project ends, but the team never fixes the root issues.

✅ Fix it:

• Conduct a post-mortem to document what went wrong.

• Identify process improvements for future projects.

• Store insights in ezRACI so the same mistakes aren’t repeated.

How ezRACI Helps Prevent and Recover from Project Disasters

Projects fail when accountability and priorities aren’t clear. That’s why I use ezRACI to:

✅ Define roles and responsibilities so crisis response is immediate. ✅ Ensure risk tracking is visible before small problems escalate. ✅ Centralize communication so everyone is aligned on recovery efforts.

If your project ever spun out of control, ezRACI can help you bring structure back to chaos.

Final Thoughts: Great PMs Thrive in Crisis Situations

The biggest lesson I’ve learned? Crisis moments define great project managers.

✔️ Don’t panic—stop, assess, and prioritize. ✔️ Reset expectations with leadership early. ✔️ Use structured tools like ezRACI to regain control.

Next time, in Lesson 21: The Final Lesson – What 21 Years in IT Project Management Taught Me, I’ll wrap up this series with my biggest takeaways from two decades in the trenches.

Disclaimer: This blog is written from the perspective of Tom Jones, a fictional IT Project Manager, and is intended for informational and educational purposes. While based on real-world project management principles, all anecdotes and characters in these posts are entirely fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons or events is purely coincidental. The blog also references ezRACI, a project management tool designed to help teams succeed in project execution. However, these opinions are solely those of the fictional character and do not constitute an official endorsement.