When a crisis hits, everyone wants quick action. But fast without structure isn’t decisive, it’s just chaotic.

Back in 2017, Mary Elizabeth and I debated a motion that sits at the intersection of two very different disciplines:

“The project management framework and its principles are ill suited for managing a crisis.”

It sounds provocative, and it was meant to challenge assumptions and explore the topic.

The Core Debate

The argument for the motion:

* A crisis isn’t a project. It doesn’t get “created”, it erupts.

* The scale of coordination required goes far beyond typical stakeholder management.

* First responders, government leaders, community organizations, and the public don’t make a project team. That’s a different operating model entirely.

* PM gave us a strong framework for recovery, but response? That belongs to a different discipline.

The argument against the motion:

* Crisis management and project management share more DNA than people admit.

* Risk planning, communication frameworks, and resource distribution. All of these core PM tools are directly applicable under pressure.

* The real criticism isn’t the framework, It’s the misapplication of it.

* Agile proved PM can move fast when the context demands it, crisis is no different.

The clear tension to consider is this: PM is a powerful tool but only if you know which problem you’re holding it up against.

Why This Still Matters in 2026

Crises haven’t gotten simpler. If anything, they’ve multiplied.

Organizational shutdowns, supply chain collapses, reputational emergencies, and geopolitical disruption all impact program delivery.

In most organizations, when a crisis hits, one of two things happens:

* Someone pulls out a project plan and tries to run the response like a workstream.

* Or nobody pulls out anything, and it’s improvised chaos from minute one.

Both are wrong.

The real question this episode was pointing at is all about the application of the framework.

3 Questions for Today’s Leaders

* Does your organization have a crisis response capability, or just a project plan it hopes will stretch far enough?

* When the last disruption hit, did PM discipline help or slow things down?

* What’s the line in your context between “crisis response” and “recovery project” and who owns each side of it?

🎧 Episode 35 is live now.

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