Every project faces moments when progress slows or comes to a standstill. At these critical points, senior managers and directors have an essential role to play in genuinely providing solutions. However, the approach they choose to take can either resolve the issue or just make it more complex for the rest of the teams.

Having done the whole senior management thing myself ¹, I noticed a common pitfall: managers mistakenly believe that simply escalating an issue or demanding results equates to genuine assistance.

Due to their authoritative roles, senior management involvement is often immediately noticed and acted upon, but this can mislead them into thinking their mere presence or directive is helpful. In reality, merely escalating issues without offering tangible solutions frequently “robs Peter to pay Paul,” solving one issue temporarily but creating another elsewhere.

So, what does genuine help from senior management look like?

Provide Real Additional Resources: Effective intervention often requires additional resources. Crucially, this doesn’t mean reallocating existing staff or resources but genuinely investing in new resources, such as hiring additional personnel, acquiring necessary tools, or making strategic investments.

Unfortunately for managers, genuine assistance often comes in the form of increased budgets or funding to support urgent needs ².

Offer Broader Perspective and Insight: Senior managers and directors usually have a comprehensive view of the organisation, enabling them to identify solutions or resources that may not be visible to project teams.
Sharing knowledge about other teams or departments that can assist or suggesting alternative solutions based on wider organisational insights can be immensely useful and shortcut a lot of problems.

Adjust and Clarify Priorities Thoughtfully: While frequently shifting resources is usually counterproductive, there are strategic exceptions. Occasionally, reducing pressure on one initiative can free up critical capacity to address more pressing issues.
This approach, however, must be carefully managed and clearly communicated to avoid confusion or resentment within teams.

Provide Support and Protection: Sometimes, the best assistance senior leaders can offer is protection from external pressures or excessive interference.
Shielding project teams from undue scrutiny or conflicting demands allows them to focus clearly on solving critical issues. Effective support might simply mean advocating for more realistic timelines or managing stakeholder expectations more effectively.

In short, effective senior leadership intervention requires more than mere escalation—it requires thoughtful, resourceful, and strategic support. When done correctly, this not only resolves the immediate issues but also strengthens the broader organisational effectiveness, and we don’t end up with a load more tech debt, which messes things up further down the line.

1. and not enjoyed it half as much as I thought I would[↩]
2. Sorry, but it does, and yes, it’s a lousy job[↩]

I have hated status updates all my life because I feel that people should already know what the heck is going on if they’re involved in something.

But as I’ve gotten older, I started to realise why people ask for them. However the next and proper question is, if you have to have a status update, then WHAT is a good status update?

And here, I think I diverge from the majority of PMs most people think a good status update is a status update that tells you something you want to know, i.e., good news. I disagree.

A good status update just gives you the status of what’s going on so that you can make informed decisions. That might sound like a minor thing, but it’s a major thing to those who are giving you the information to make that update to powerful people.

If everyone thinks that you will only accept good news as part of your update, then they will not turn up to your meetings. They will not give you the truth. They will not even be available to find because frankly what is the point?

But in reality as long as they tell you what’s going on and give you enough information to show that people are making an effort and that whatever progress can be made is being made toward a resolution, that is a good status update.

Then it is your job as a manager or project manager to take that and fight the battle with the stakeholders or the clients. It is not the responsibility of subject matter experts, be they developers, support staff, or business people, to give you good news, and only good news. You’re paid to manage projects, so manage them.

In a large corporation, would you think communication would be as valuable as real, honest-to-goodness hard work?

Well, the short answer is yes.

It’s easy to get so absorbed in solving technical and business problems that we forget how critical it is to keep everyone else in the loop. You bury your head in code or hardware issues, tackle one problem after another, and hope that once you emerge ‘voilà’ you’ll be hailed as the hero who got it all done.

But here’s the catch: long-term projects, especially those spanning months or years, demand consistent communication. Your customers, whether internal teams or external clients, need updates.
Their priorities shift, their customers ask questions, and they rely on your transparency to know what’s happening. If you disappear and hope they trust you, don’t be surprised if they assume the worst and act on it in ways that can knock everything off track and make your hard work pointless. Lack of communication breeds doubt.

A Dedicated Role for Communication

This is why it’s best to have someone (not one of your buried-in-code tech staff) serve as a dedicated liaison. That person’s job is to keep everyone in the loop about progress, delays, or changes.
Your tech team’s time is too valuable to be wasted on constant status reports, but that doesn’t mean no one should be doing it. It’s crucial to maintain trust by ensuring your customers know exactly what’s going on, even if the news isn’t always great.

Dealing with Delays and Outrage

Of course, consistent communication means facing frustrated customers head-on. People will be upset if a deliverable is late, or if you can’t give them everything they want right away.
But that’s better than letting them stew in uncertainty. Yes, many tech professionals want to please everyone and might feel guilty about having to say “no” or “not yet,” but being honest builds trust in the long run.

Agile as a Communication Framework

Although agile methodologies can sometimes feel tedious, one thing they do well is set realistic expectations. Sprints, user stories, and burndown charts are all tools that help show how long something will take and why.
When customers push for more, you can point to the sprint plan and timeline, then let them negotiate priorities with each other, rather than with you. Once they agree on what’s most important, you can adjust and proceed.
Bottom Line

Hard work is valuable, but without communication, even the hardest-working team risks losing trust and damaging relationships. Keep the lines open, stay transparent about what’s going on, and let your customers know exactly what to expect. In the end, this approach saves everyone time, energy, and stress.

Have you ever witnessed a moment where a team spends ages perfecting a deliverable, pouring their heart and soul into it, only to present it to a project manager or senior leader who responds with a perfunctory “Great, now next I want you to…”

I’ve seen this from both sides throughout my career, but on a previous client I watched the entire scenario unfold in real time, and recently it clicked in a new way.

When this happens, the team is often stunned at how quickly their hard work is glossed over.

The project manager, from the team’s vantage point, seems impatient, never satisfied, and always hungry for more.

I like to call this situation “Starving Project Manager syndrome.” Here’s why it happens:

Remote Progress is Invisible

In a remote or distributed work setting, project managers might not witness the day-to-day grind. They see tasks stuck in limbo and get harassed by senior stakeholders for updates. From their perspective, progress looks stagnant.

Mounting Pressure

Because nothing outwardly changes for days or weeks, the manager faces constant pressure. Stakeholders demand progress and question why tasks are still open. This increases the project manager’s anxiety and eagerness to “move the needle.”

Ravenous for Results

When the deliverable finally arrives, the project manager is “starving.” It’s as if they’ve been waiting hours at a restaurant, unaware of the intricacy of the chef’s (the team’s) cooking process. The moment that “meal” arrives, they devour it and immediately want more.

The solution lies in finding balance in communication:

Project managers should make a conscious effort to acknowledge the work done even if they don’t know the details of how it is achieved, celebrate wins, even small ones, and communicate the value of what the team has delivered.

Teams might consider providing more frequent progress updates so the project manager (and stakeholders) can see and appreciate the ongoing effort, rather than waiting until the very end.

When both sides understand each other’s perspectives, it becomes easier to manage expectations, celebrate milestones, and maintain morale.

After all, a well-fed, well-informed project manager is less likely to be impatient or “starving” for the next big deliverable, and a recognised, appreciated team is more motivated to deliver quality work.

Final Thoughts

The “Starving Project Manager” phenomenon highlights the importance of communication and empathy in collaborative work.

While it’s natural for a project manager to push for results, it’s equally vital to acknowledge and celebrate the achievements of the team. By doing so, we foster a healthier work environment, one where everyone feels seen, heard, and valued.