Herding Cats with Gantt Charts
It’s 8:15 AM, and you are already in hell.
Ding. Ding. Ding. Your inbox is lighting up like a Christmas tree and there it is — the Master Service Agreement for that deal that’s been dragging on for months. Not the real agreement, of course, but the latest version someone swears is “final. The one that’s been emailed, edited, and renamed so many times it looks like it went through a committee of toddlers with crayons.
Sales are demanding “the latest version.” Legal are furious their changes aren’t included. Operations? They’re just CC’d because they love chaos.
You open the spreadsheet like it’s a horror movie and you’re the dumb character who hears a noise in the basement.
Is it “Scope_vFINAL.xlsx”? or maybe “Scope_FINAL_THIS_TIME_I_SWEAR.xlsx”?
Tabs everywhere, numbers that don’t match, and a creeping suspicion everyone’s working off a different version. You’re supposed to be conducting this orchestra, but it feels more like directing a cat circus on fire.
Then there’s the steering committee presentation. You need to explain why timelines are slipping (again), convince stakeholders the budget is under control (spoiler: it’s not), and cram in a “quick slide” someone demanded five minutes ago. The deck has been revised so many times it could qualify as abstract art.
And you? You’re just sitting there, staring at your screen, thinking,
“I could’ve opened a bakery.”
At least there, when someone says “final,” they mean it. But no, here you are, clutching “Spreadsheet_vFINALv5_FINALFINAL_USE_THIS_ONE.xlsx” like it’s the last piece of cake at a company party.
And just when you think it’s over — DING. Another email:
“URGENT — can we tweak this before the call?”
It’s not even 9 AM, and you’re one reply-all away from from moving to a cabin in the woods with no electricity.
Sound familiar?
If this feels like your daily reality, you’re not alone. But here’s the good news: it doesn’t have to be this way. The tools exist to eliminate the chaos by automating manual checks, entire workflows for approval and keep your projects on track — no endless email chains or mismatched spreadsheets required.
That’s exactly what we’re diving into in our upcoming webinar: “Kill Bottlenecks: AI-Driven Contracts for Projects.” Join us on December 6th to find out how at Programmatic we turn static documents (like the MSA) into a series of automated workflows and save up to 45% of management time.
📅 Register now to secure your spot: https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/59c26631-a41b-47f4-aae7-59a8aab6485a@16689dcb-be31-4143-8e94-9f903d6f5d9b
