Subscribe

Project Pirate

12
May
Clock timer showing 22:59:59 against a dark background with Project Pirate branding.

The Countdown

In 1981, John Carpenter gave us the anti-hero Snake Plissken in the film, "Escape from New York" -
3 min read
06
May
A pink soap bar embossed with the words "Reality Is Negotiable," styled as a Fight Club reference.

Reality Is Negotiable: The Day 1 Skill That Determines Everything

Tim Ferriss once said, "Reality is negotiable." Most people treat this as motivational philosophy. For Project Managers, it&
5 min read
21
Apr
A hurricane eye viewed from within — storm clouds rotating at the edges.

The Eye of the Storm - The Missed Opportunity

There is a meteorological phenomenon that most people misunderstand the moment they hear it described. The eye of a storm
5 min read
08
Mar
Close-up macro photograph of a heavily redacted document. Thick black bars cover most of the page.

[REDACTED]

CLASSIFIED // PROJECT PIRATE // EYES ONLY SUBJECT: Leadership Intelligence - Redaction as Craft  |  DATE: ██████████  |  CLEARANCE: Storm-Tested™ Redacted Every document arrives with
7 min read
05
Mar
A worn vinyl record on a turntable, label reading "Project Pirate Records - 99 Problems, Side A

I Got 99 Problems But the PMO Ain't One (hit me!)

Why projects don't die from governance - they die from lost belief. In 2003, Jay-Z gave us one
5 min read
25
Feb
Cargo ship sinking in fog on calm waters

The Silent Shipwrecks, Part 2: Emptying the Coffers

In Part 1, we explored how organisational cultures drift into mediocrity through strategic cowardice, the Bozo Explosion, and the normalisation
9 min read
17
Feb
Cargo ship disappearing into fog on calm waters.

The Silent Shipwrecks, Part 1: Mediocrity is the Slow Death to Obscurity

While sailing the high seas of complex IT delivery, I watched a team make a "strategic" decision that
7 min read
13
Jan
Odysseus bound to the mast navigating past the Sirens - ancient Greek framework for managing scope creep in project delivery

Bound to the Mast: Navigating the Sirens of Scope Creep

An Odyssey through Discovery and Delivery Every Project Manager knows the moment. You're sailing smoothly toward delivery when
10 min read
05
Jan
Mountain ranges layering into distance at dawn, demonstrating continuous peaks beyond peaks

Blessed by Mountains: Why the Hardest Paths Lead to the Truest Self

A 2026 reflection on leadership, resilience, and why enduring challenge shapes the leaders who last. There's a mountain
6 min read
18
Dec
Ship crew jettisoning cargo crates into stormy seas at night, illuminated by Japanese lanterns with Bonenkai text

Bonenkai: The Anti-Pattern to "Lessons Learned"

Why strategic forgetting might be more valuable than one more retrospective Every winter, before the long crossing, Captains face a
8 min read