Lessons from a Near-Miss Project Deadline
How I cultivated an outcome mindset
I’ll never forget the Friday night I almost derailed a major project.
We were up against a tight deadline for a new high-profile tech store. Our task was to deliver coordinated engineering drawings that needed to be flawless. The client’s standards were exacting—every system had to integrate seamlessly, every dependency mapped, every connection accounted for. This project wasn’t just about drawings. It was about delivering a product the client could trust.
One critical element was the combination fire-smoke dampers, which required close coordination between the mechanical and electrical engineers. As a mechanical engineer, I assumed the electrical side was handled. But at 4 PM on delivery day, I discovered a major problem. The electrical engineer didn’t know how to wire the dampers. And neither did I.
Panic set in.
I scrambled to find our project director, an electrical engineer. He was in a meeting, so I went to the electrical engineer’s desk to figure it out. The rest of the electrical team had already left for the weekend. Time was running out. An hour later, we hadn’t made any progress. I couldn’t wait any longer. I barged into the meeting and practically demanded help.
That’s when the project director asked me a simple question: “Did you ever ask anyone to coordinate the dampers?”
Of course, I hadn’t. I’d assumed it would just happen.
Eventually, with his guidance, we resolved the wiring. The drawings were delivered later that night. But the experience taught me a critical lesson:
Don’t just focus on tasks. Instead, keep your focus on the outcome.
The Missing Step: Start with the End in Mind
Have you worked hard on a project, task, or product only to realize you missed the mark? You followed the plan. You did the work. But something didn’t click.
It happens because we often focus too much on the task itself, not the purpose behind it.
Stephen Covey put it best:
“We may be very busy, we may be very 'efficient', but we will also be truly 'effective' only when we begin with the end in mind.”
That means you’re not designing just for the product. You’re designing for the people who will use it. You’re not just creating a deliverable. You’re creating something that helps your client or end user achieve their goals.
This applies whether you’re building an app, drafting a drawing set, or preparing for a presentation. Who is the audience? What do they need? Why are you doing this work? What does success look like for them?
Applying the Lesson
Here’s how to make this mindset shift in your work:
✅ Start with the audience. Who are they? What drives them? What outcomes do they care about?
✅ Ask the right questions early. Don’t just assume everything is coordinated. Verify with systems, teams, or dependencies.
✅ Customize your work. Tailor your solution to the specific needs of your client or audience. Don’t just make what you think the product should be.
✅ Pressure test your assumptions. If you can, ask your stakeholders early and often:
"Does this line up with your expectations?"
✅ Think beyond the deliverable. Your work is a means to an outcome. That could be a safe building, a smooth user experience, or a delighted client. Make sure your product points to the outcome the audience wants.
That Friday night taught me a hard lesson. I was so focused on the drawing set that I lost sight of the fully integrated building that our client needed.
Don’t make the same mistake.
Start with the end in mind. Focus on outcomes. And ask the hard questions before the deadline comes knocking.
Does this resonate with you? I’d love to hear your story!