To predict a project's success, move beyond lagging indicators like schedule and budget. Instead, monitor leading indicators like the rate and "stickiness" of decisions, the stability of interfaces between subsystems, and how proactively risks are surfaced and addressed. These day-to-day factors determine the ultimate outcome.

Premortems are not just for project kickoffs. They are a powerful diagnostic tool when a project feels 'off track' or when teams are 'speaking from different sheets of music.' This can surface misalignments and communication breakdowns that sprint retrospectives might not catch.

Deep tech startups don't have unique interpersonal problems. The same human OS bugs—communication breakdowns, ego, avoiding hard conversations—that sink a restaurant or a marriage will also sink a highly technical venture. The context changes, but the core human errors do not.

Similar to technical debt, "narrative debt" accrues when teams celebrate speed and output while neglecting shared understanding. This gap registers as momentum, not risk, making the system fragile while metrics still look healthy.

The primary cause of failure in engineering projects is not technical incompetence but a lack of visibility into budget, schedule, scope, and risk. Successful project execution hinges on addressing these core management areas before they derail the work.

Executives often avoid acknowledging a team's technical skill gaps, believing it damages morale. In reality, this sets the team up for failure by forcing them to say 'yes' to impossible tasks. Openly identifying gaps allows for a realistic plan to train, hire, or partner.

A project's success equals its technical quality multiplied by team acceptance. Technologists often fail by engineering perfect solutions that nobody buys into or owns. An 80%-correct solution fiercely defended by the team will always outperform a "perfect" one that is ignored.

Solely measuring a team's output fails to capture the health of their collaboration. A more robust assessment includes tracking goal achievement, team psychological safety, role clarity, and the speed of execution. This provides a holistic view of team effectiveness.

Before starting a project, ask the team to imagine it has failed and write a story explaining why. This exercise in 'time travel' bypasses optimism bias and surfaces critical operational risks, resource gaps, and flawed assumptions that would otherwise be missed until it's too late.