One of the fastest ways to crash and burn as a project manager is by flying at the wrong altitude.
Pilots use an altimeter to understand how high they are relative to the ground. Without it, they risk flying too low and hitting obstacles, or too high and losing sight of the runway. Project managers face the same challenge: you need to constantly “check your altimeter” and adjust your level of detail depending on who you’re working with.
Flying High: Talking to Executives
When you’re with senior management, the right altitude is the big picture. Executives don’t want to hear every detail about why a two-day delay in QA ripples into a week-long pushback. They want:
- The updated timeline
- The general cause of the delay
- What you’re doing to mitigate it
- What support you need from them
- Whether the path forward is still correct
Anything deeper than that is turbulence.
Flying Low: Working with QA and Delivery Teams
Shift altitude, and the details suddenly matter. With QA and developers, you need precision:
- Which environment is stable for testing
- What test data is needed
- Which blockers affect the build
- How acceptance criteria tie to requirements
Here, “big picture” updates aren’t useful. The team needs ground-level instructions to move forward.
Why This Matters
Every part of the business flies at a different altitude. If you’re stuck at the wrong level, conversations stall, teams get frustrated, and alignment breaks down. But when you adjust your altitude to match the audience, you:
- Save time in meetings
- Build trust with both executives and delivery teams
- Keep projects on course and avoid unnecessary crashes
Takeaways
- With executives: Stay high-level. Share timelines, risks, mitigations, and needs.
- With delivery teams: Get into the weeds. Clarify requirements, blockers, and details.
- As a PM: Constantly check your altimeter, know which level you need to fly at before every meeting.
Because the difference between a smooth landing and crashing and burning often comes down to altitude.