Perspective
Building The Long Dream: Project Management Lessons From Delayed Triumphs
By Joseph Lunani
The Long and Winding Road
Doing life is one long, winding project. One that is initiated by God, before conception, and gets handed to us immediately we start making decisions from a tender age. Decisions that punctuate and direct our days of our lives. Every dreamer, entrepreneur, or leader eventually faces a project that refuses to end. The kind that starts with a lot of enthusiasm and excitement, good plans, a delivery schedule( read Gantt chart) and perfectly manicured budgets, only to stretch on endlessly. These kinds of projects gobble more resources than forecasted and test every fibre of human resilience.
Yet, despite missed milestones, fractured determination, strained relations, disoriented team dynamics, high turnover in your team, and fiscal blowouts, some projects survive! Not because they are perfect, but because someone, somewhere, is resolute that they are worth the pursuit and perseverance.
This is a reflection on such unending ventures- those delayed triumphs that redefine our purpose, grit and leadership. We explore lessons from iconic infrastructure projects, academic journeys and personal quests as case studies that defied time, complexity( even simplicity) and cost but ultimately left a legacy.
When Everything Takes Longer( and Costs More)
From Paris to Port Said, Kinshasa to Kilifi, and classrooms to construction sites, many projects stumble. Delays are often not a sign of incompetence, but a signal of evolving complexities. Before you give up on your own delayed project, be kind to yourself and consider:
The Eiffel Tower An iconic world wonder, which is now the most visited paid monument in the world. Design concepts were done in May 1884 by Koechlin and Nouguier; these were later refined by Sauvestre two years later, in May 1886, after an official design contest. The initial projected cost was about 6.5 million Francs, but records indicate that the project cost was in excess of 8 million Francs. The project had over 300 workers, and at least one fatality was reported over the two years of implementation. After completion in 1889, it was launched during the World Fair celebrations. This project was resisted by artists and Parisians for decades, who despised its unconventional design and form. It had huge budget overruns and also took over two years to construct.
The Statue of Liberty
This was a gift from France to the US. It was designed by Barholdi in 1874. US government approvals to accept the gift took a long time, after which the project design, including the size and form work, was reviewed over and over again till 1880 by the Eiffel Tower team. The project faced funding hurdles that saw its financing spread via lotteries and public contributions in France, with additional foundational pedestal costs covered by the U. S. government taxes. And when it finally started, there were major criticisms and resistance, and even political backlash before France and the U. S. A. finally unveiled it in 1886.
The Suez Canal
Founded as a company by Lesseps in 1858- works started in 1859 with a time delivery of six years. The multi-dimensional design, funding and execution of the project that involved teams from different countries and cultures caused labour revolts, financing debates, project calamities, cholera epidemics, and climatic changes that hampered its progress. Although the sea-level canal design remained unchanged. The project took 10 years, four
years longer than planned and more than double the cost, which is estimated to be more than 433 million Francs. There were also hundreds of thousands of casualties and mortalities reported over the project period. This mega project’ s dynamics show how geopolitics, funding trouble-cycles, and socio-environmental tensions can stall even the most ambitious infrastructural dreams.
On the other hand, we have personal conquests- individually set and more intimate projects. The postgraduate degree- a master’ s or PhD- is expected to take one to three years for master’ s programs and three to six years for PhD. You may find other life issues like tight work schedules, family disasters, marriage pulls or pushes, parenthood, shifts in financial funding, among other factors, just do not align, and thus such academic sojourns run over-budget and take longer than anticipated. It is therefore prudent to put things in perspective and ensure the individual completes all the necessary requirements to graduate and close such projects.
Lesson # 1: Build timelines for vision, but have the capacity for volatility.
The Team Changes, but the Mission Endures
Long projects reveal an unsettling and uncomfortable truth: people leave! In many multi-year efforts, team turnover is inevitable and is the norm rather than the exception. Life happens, seasons change, and so do the team members’ focus, beliefs and circumstances, which inform their departure. Some member just never fit into their roles and are released, others find better opportunities or burn out, and a few simply fade.
Yet the project lives on! If the mission is owned by the system and not the individual, then completion and legacy is
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