When readiness is undefined, organizations declare success based on activity rather than outcomes.
This approach feels constructive. It is also complicit.
By focusing on execution milestones - "on time" and "on budget,"
organizations ignore their earliest signal that the enterprise is not ready —
and continue forward anyway.
This is not dysfunction. It is design.
When structures reward conflicting behavior, when authority is unclear, and when decision rights are
outcomes degrade predictably and repeatably.