A Day in the Life of a Miscommunicated Project: A Short Fictional Story
- kristian8120
- Sep 23
- 2 min read
8:45 AM. The project team receives an email from the client: “We need the final deck by Friday.” Nobody replies. Everyone assumes someone else is handling it.
9:15 AM. David, the project manager, skims the email on his phone between meetings. He assumes “Friday” means end of day. Sarah, the designer, reads the same email and panics, thinking it means Friday morning. She starts reworking slides without telling anyone.
10:30 AM. Tom, the analyst, notices the data in the draft is outdated. He messages Sarah on chat: “We need to update the numbers.” She reads it while half-asleep from last night’s overtime and thinks he said, “We don’t need to update the numbers.” The old data stays.
1:00 PM. At lunch, the team discusses the deadline. Half think it’s Friday at 9 AM, the other half think it’s Friday at 5 PM. Nobody clarifies with the client.
3:00 PM. The client calls David directly. “Can we have a quick preview tomorrow afternoon?” David nods without checking with the team. He walks into the office and says, “Client wants it earlier.” Sarah groans. Tom sighs. No one asks what “earlier” means.
5:00 PM. Emma, the junior associate, sends a version to the client by mistake, thinking it was an internal draft. The email subject line reads: “Latest Messy Deck_V3_FINAL_FINAL2.pptx.” The client is not impressed.
Friday, 9:00 AM. The client expects the deck. The team delivers at 5:00 PM. The data is outdated. The visuals don’t align. The message is unclear. The client cancels the presentation and requests a new agency next quarter.
What do you think the cause of the project's failure was? It failed because nobody said the simple things out loud.
Lessons for leaders
We know this story may be a bit exaggerated. However, this might happen. Projects collapse when communication is left to chance. Leaders need to prevent this snowball effect by setting clear rules of engagement.
Confirm deadlines: Never assume “Friday” means the same thing to everyone.
Define roles: Make sure each person knows who owns what.
Create feedback loops: Encourage people to check assumptions early instead of waiting until the end.
Normalize clarification: Reward the person who asks, “Do you mean 9 AM or 5 PM?” for their attention to detail.
Rather than decoding vague messages, your team should spend energy on solving problems with clarity.
At Alvigor, we help leaders and managers build communication habits that stop small gaps from turning into major failures. A single sentence can save a project. The question is whether your team is saying it?
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