The Theatre of Reporting

When every dashboard is green, but your gut tells you it’s red.

You know the scene. The monthly steering pack lands. Dozens of slides.
Status: ✅ Green.
Budget: ✅ Green.
Risks: ✅ Green.
Morale: ❌… (Not tracked).

It’s corporate theatre. Everyone acts calm while quietly panicking that the real story is buried between the bullet points.

The truth is, projects rarely fail in delivery. They fail in control, the moment leaders stop demanding evidence and start accepting updates.

At Rainman, we call this the Watermelon Project: green on the outside, red in the middle.

The fix isn’t another status meeting. It’s a new operating rhythm that surfaces reality early and drives decisions, not decks.

If bad news doesn’t travel fast in your program, you don’t have control, you’re just creating more risk.

Real control feels calm, not comfortable. You’re in the zone, not in denial.