When the Real Enemy Isn’t the Deadline
- Emre Ay
- Sep 29
- 2 min read
Why projects fail even when the talent is right in front of you
Deadlines are scary.
Changing requirements can be maddening. Technical blockers can derail even the most well-planned sprint.
But none of these compares to the silent killer of great projects: people in power who make the wrong calls for the wrong reasons.
The Council Chamber Problem
In Game of Thrones, not every war was lost on the battlefield. Many were lost in the council chambers, with leaders chasing their egos instead of victory, or advisors nodding along to bad decisions because it was easier than speaking up.
I’ve been in projects where this played out exactly the same way.
A leader who changes their mind six times in a single day, not because of new information but because they are chasing control.
A manager who agrees to every client request without considering the cost in time, scope, or sanity.
A decision-maker who treats every delay as a personal failure by the team, yet refuses to address the bottlenecks they create.
The Pattern Never Changes
The result is always the same:
Burned-out teams
Missed deadlines
Talented people leave sometimes after being pushed out or made to want to leave, only to be replaced by new faces who quickly discover the real problem.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: replacing the people doing the work does not fix the people blocking the work.
If the culture stays the same, so will the outcome.
Your Choices in a Broken System
In the ASOIAF Universe, some characters survived by speaking truth to power, others by quietly adapting, and some by walking away from doomed battles.
In real life, those same options apply.
If you can change the culture, fight for it.
If you can’t, protect your craft and your sanity by knowing when to step back.
Because in the end, winning the wrong war is just another way of losing.
