Find out why my project is slipping and what is causing each delay
Compares plan versus actual to find which tasks slipped, the likely root causes, and the knock-on effect on the end date.
The prompt
Help me understand why my project is running late.
Original plan: [MILESTONES or tasks with baseline dates]
Current status: [ACTUAL or forecast dates, % complete, tracker export]
What people are saying: [PASTE status notes, emails, meeting notes that mention problems]
Changes since kickoff: [scope changes, staff changes, new requirements, vendor issues]
Steps:
1. List every task or milestone that has slipped, by how much, and whether it sits on the critical path.
2. For each slip, find the likely cause and sort it into one of these: unclear or changing scope; underestimated effort; waiting on a decision or approval; waiting on another team or vendor; people pulled to other work; technical or quality problems; late start of a predecessor.
3. Separate root causes from symptoms. "Testing is late" is a symptom; "requirements changed twice after build started" is a cause.
4. Show which causes are still active and will keep causing delays.
5. Estimate the knock-on effect on the end date, and show your working.
Return:
1. Delay table: Task | Planned | Actual or forecast | Days late | On critical path? | Likely cause | Evidence.
2. The 3 root causes behind most of the delay, ranked by impact.
3. Forecast end date range, with assumptions.
4. The questions I should ask the team to confirm each cause.
Base causes on the evidence I gave. Where it is a guess, label it [HYPOTHESIS]. Focus on how the work was set up, not on blaming individuals.
Highlighted [brackets] are blanks to replace with your own details.
Fill in the blanks and use this promptMore Projects & Operations prompts
What to fill in
- MILESTONES or tasks with baseline dates
- ACTUAL or forecast dates, % complete, tracker export
- scope changes, staff changes, new requirements, vendor issues
- HYPOTHESIS
How this prompt is built
This prompt follows the RTF structure (Role, Task, Format). RTF tells the model who to be, what to do and what shape the answer should take. It is the quickest structure that still gives noticeably better results than a bare request.
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