Parkinson’s Law: Work fills the space you give it.

“If you give yourself three years to complete something, completion will take three years.”

Now replace “three” with whatever number… like eight.

That’s what I keep seeing in infrastructure.

Projects designed to take 8… 10… 12 years.

Not because they need it.

Because nobody in the room knows how fast it can actually be done.

Some clients hire advisors who have never delivered a project at scale.

Or with no direct experience in the type of asset being delivered…

But they are “locals” or the clients “trust” them.

Well..

These guys have studied those assets.

Modeled them.

Written reports about them.

But delivered?

No.

So what do they do?

They add buffers.

Then more buffers.

Then “just in case” buffers.

And suddenly:

4 years becomes 6

6 becomes 8

8 becomes the “realistic plan”.

No one challenges it.

Come on… they are your trustful advisors…

No one in the room has done better.

I’ve seen projects delivered in half the time…

By teams that had done it before.

By people who knew where the real risks were… and where the fake ones were.

Speed is not about rushing.

It’s about:

Knowing what matters

Killing what doesn’t

Making decisions early

And having the experience to say: “this is enough”

Inexperienced teams don’t do that.

They stretch timelines to protect themselves.

Not to deliver better outcomes.

And the tragedy?

The client believes them.

The market takes their estimates as references.

Governments approve it.

Taxpayers fund it.

And years are lost… for no reason.

Sorry, but…

Long timelines are often a symptom of low ambition…

Disguised as prudence.

Next time you see an 8-year delivery program, ask:

“Who has estimated that?

“Has someone delivered this in 4?”

Then… start setting your strategy to win.

For more tips… you know where to click.

​My mentorship - Weekly PPP Lessons from a PPP ex-CEO​

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