Episode 546: The Real Reason Project Requirements Keep Changing

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Episode Summary

Project requirements rarely change because teams lack discipline. More often, change starts long before a project manager ever joins the work. Early product decisions define priorities, assumptions, and constraints that quietly shape delivery outcomes. In this conversation, Cornelius Fichtner speaks with Lee Fischman about why project managers so often inherit projects that feel impossible and how product thinking influences what gets built, how success is defined, and how much flexibility exists when reality shifts. The discussion connects product management, project execution, and leadership behavior, showing how unclear intent, untested value assumptions, and early commitments lead to ongoing requirement changes later in delivery.

Lee explains how product managers focus on deciding what should be delivered, while project managers focus on ensuring delivery within cost, schedule, and scope. Problems arise when those roles disconnect or when success criteria shift as teams learn more about users, markets, and constraints. The conversation highlights practical concepts such as pre-mortems, working backward from outcomes, recognizing bias in decision-making, and treating plans and even large programs as experiments. These ideas apply in both adaptive and predictive environments, especially when teams face pressure to commit to dates that leaders do not fully understand.

The episode also addresses communication habits that reduce surprises, including writing to clarify thinking, making assumptions visible, and choosing meetings deliberately instead of by default. Lee discusses why plans calcify, how bias and sunk costs reinforce rigid thinking, and why leaders play a critical role in preventing projects from locking into failing paths. The discussion closes with actionable takeaways focused on humility, communication, and creating environments where learning happens early enough to influence outcomes rather than after delivery.

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

• Why project requirements often change due to early product decisions made before delivery begins.
• How product managers and project managers differ in focus and how they can act as allies on complex work.
• How pre-mortems and working backward help clarify intent and surface hidden risks early.
• Why bias, pressure, and optimism influence commitments and cause plans to calcify.
• How communication and visibility reduce surprises without adding unnecessary meetings.

Resources Mentioned

• How to Excel at Digital Project Management - Book by Lee Fischman discussed throughout the episode as the foundation for many concepts.

Quotes from This Episode

• "Most project problems, they start long before the project does." - Cornelius Fichtner
• "We do not get ruined by bad hypotheses. We get ruined when we misunderstand the theory underlying them." - Lee Fischman
• "Oftentimes it is not a project management problem. It is a people problem." - Lee Fischman

Connect with Lee Fischman

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lee-fischman/

Time-Stamped Show Notes

• [00:00] - Opening remarks on why project problems start before delivery begins.
• [03:00] - What goes wrong before projects start and the role of product decisions.
• [07:00] - Hypotheses, theories, and why clarity before delivery matters.
• [08:30] - Using pre-mortems to surface risk and encourage open discussion.
• [14:00] - Bias, heuristics, and how decision-making pressure affects outcomes.
• [20:00] - Making work visible through writing and communication habits.
• [25:45] - Why lovable products outperform merely viable ones.
• [29:30] - Strategy versus plans and the importance of working backward.
• [39:45] - Why plans calcify and how treating work as experiments prevents stagnation.

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