The "Silent Drain" from "Successful" Projects That Restricts Organizational Growth: A Guide for Tech Leaders
- Shlomi Ozalvo
- 5 days ago
- 5 min read
"Why are we so busy, constantly adding resources, yet failing to move the needle?" This is a familiar refrain heard among technology organization leaders.
Years ago, I was invited to join a small organizational strategic improvement team tasked with uncovering the root cause of this very phenomenon. A five-year retrospective analysis yielded a stark finding that shocked the team, management, and the entire organization: 50% of product development projects that concluded "successfully" and were released for sales generated zero revenue!
You can imagine the number of developers (some of whom were critical and scarce), capital, marketing, inventory, and valuable development time (at the expense of other projects) that were invested in initiatives that were seemingly "successful" but, in reality, sold nothing!
In my last two posts, we discussed the critical difference between effective project management capabilities and strategic project delivery [Link], and why a "successful" project (successful in whose eyes?) is not enough [Link]. Now, let's focus on the question: What does it look like in practice when an organization lacks a value-driven delivery strategy?
The Anatomy of the "Silent Drain"
The Silent Drain is the cumulative effect of organizational resources invested in projects that fail to deliver proven business value—whether they are stalled ("Zombie Projects") or whether they have been completed but not sold. This is a massive depletion of our organization's health.
Two prominent symptoms restrict the organization's ability to grow:
Symptom 1: Zombie Projects
We see projects in organizations that simply... exist? They haven't been officially cancelled, but they aren't truly moving forward either. They consume resources, occupy our team's attention, and hover in a state of freeze or quiet neglect. These are Zombie Projects. They are not a "failure" in the traditional sense, but an anchor that holds back the entire organization, identifiable by the following signs:
No Clear Owner: The person who was the project's original champion moved to another role, and no one has taken full ownership of its success or failure. The project remains in a state of quiet neglect.
Stalled Milestones: The project has been at "10% completion" for three months. Milestones are consistently delayed, often with vague excuses.
Resource Hoarding: The project still demands time and budget, but its outputs do not justify the cost. Key personnel are tied up, preventing them from being allocated to higher-value initiatives.
Vague Success Metrics: The project's goals were never clearly defined in terms of business value. No one can explain why the project is still ongoing or what its ultimate success will look like.
Symptom 2: Lack of Strategic Focus
The most common cause of the "Silent Drain" is a lack of strategic focus on generating proven business value. Research by the Project Management Institute (PMI) found that 37% of project failures stem from an unclear definition of objectives and goals. This is not an execution problem; it is a strategic problem.
Hidden Costs: Why Does the Silent Drain Hurt So Much?
Zombie projects and completed projects without value lead to a "silent drain" of significant hidden costs:
Financial Waste: PMI data shows that for every $1 billion invested in the US, $109 million is wasted due to poor project performance. Much of this waste is a direct result of misalignment with strategic goals.
Wasted Innovation: The organization's best and brightest people—engineers, product managers—are busy solving the wrong problems. This diverts their talent from high-impact work that could provide you with a competitive advantage.
Loss of Momentum and Cultural Damage: When teams realize that their hard work is not translating into business success, morale drops, and trust in leadership erodes. This leads to a reactive, risk-averse culture.
Opportunity Cost: The time and money invested in low-value projects cannot be invested in high-value projects. This delay directly harms future profitability and growth.
Strategic Roadmap Blockage: Zombie projects clutter the project portfolio, preventing you from seeing the full picture and making informed decisions about where to invest next.
Moving to Value-Driven Delivery: Prevention and Treatment
The solution is not to work harder; it is to work smarter. This is not about more tools or longer hours for project managers, but about building a framework that ensures every project you launch is a strategic imperative.
1. Prevention: Implementing Mandatory Go/No-Go Gates
The first step is to be honest about the existence of gaps. Prevention begins by establishing strategic Go/No-Go Gates that mandate:
Proof of Value (POC/MVP): No allocation of full development resources before presenting initial proof of the project's ability to generate business value (even if small).
Defined Ownership: Ensure the project has a single owner who takes full accountability for its business success (not just the technical aspects).
Clear Success Metrics: Define success in terms of revenue, cost savings, or customer retention—not in terms of "code completion."
2. Treatment: Proactive Drainage and Honouring the Deceased
The organization must shift from a reactive state to a proactive management state:
Monthly Portfolio Review: Conduct an objective review of all active projects. For each, ask: Does the project still align with the original business goal? Has it advanced significantly this month?
Make Tough Decisions: If a project has no clear path to delivering strategic value, it is time to cut the losses and terminate it. Releasing these resources is an act of strategic courage.
Learning from the Zombie: Cancel the project with honour, and document the reasons for its strategic failure. This learning is the true asset that prevents the creation of new zombies in the future.
3. Data-Driven Learning: Turning Data into Insights
The startling 50% revenue-less project statistic was not discovered overnight—it emerged from consistent, objective analysis over time. To prevent the Silent Drain in the future and continuously improve strategic delivery capabilities:
Rigorous Documentation: Ensure the continuous and orderly documentation of all relevant project data—from defined success metrics (as established in the Prevention section), through allocated resources, to actual business outcomes post-release.
Periodic Analysis: Conduct regular retrospective analyses (e.g., quarterly or annually) of the completed project portfolio. Look for patterns, recurring failures, and circumstances of success. Do certain types of projects tend to generate less value? Do specific teams struggle more with the Go/No-Go process?
Learning and Implementation: Translate these insights into changes in processes, decision-making, and the definition of future projects. This is the only way to ensure the organization does not repeat the same mistakes, turning the Silent Drain into a channel for continuous learning and growth.
Conclusion: Transforming the Silent Drain into a Growth Engine
The Silent Drain is not a result of a lack of talent or diligence, but rather a lack of strategic discipline. The 50% zero-revenue project statistic is a wake-up call: technical success is not equivalent to business success. Leaders must transition from a model of "doing things right" to a model of "doing the right things." By implementing mandatory Go/No-Go Gates, proactively managing the project portfolio, embracing a culture of cancelling low-value projects, and continuously engaging in data-driven learning, we can not only block the Silent Drain but also free up the critical resources that will fuel the organization's innovation and future growth.
I hope this has convinced you to conduct the objective review that will unlock the hidden growth potential in your organization...
