How to read a failing digital project
A short guide to spotting early warning signs in digital projects and checking alignment before issues escalate. Six signals, four framing questions, and a simple health checklist to help teams slow down, test assumptions, and understand where organisational conditions need attention.
As we head towards the end of the year, I wanted to try and distil some of the lessons that came out of Beyond the Promise into a set of practical signals.
The signals below are drawn from survey responses, interviews, and post-project reviews across a wide range of cultural organisations, from small teams to national institutions.
These apply both if you are in the middle of a project that feels a bit wobbly, or you are thinking about kicking off new work in 2026.
They are simple on purpose because complexity is often a big part of the problem with the default approach to so much digital work in the cultural secctor.
Six early warning signs
These signs are rarely about the work itself, they usually point to underlying organisational conditions such as unclear purpose, unstable sponsorship, or stretched capacity.
Spotting them early (or earlier) should give you time to adjust before reality and expectations drift any further apart.
I recognise that none of these signals are subtle. But the problem is that they're often noticed and then normalised, rather than being confronted directly and resolved.
1. The goal feels vague, stretched, or strangely difficult to state
In the report, unclear goals and unrealistic expectations came up more than anything else.