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  "description": "Every project has the same story. Different names, different numbers, same sponsor who never shows up. Fill in the blanks. Read it back. Feel seen.",
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  "publishedAt": "2026-03-28T13:03:55.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.changeguild.co",
  "textContent": "_Reports from The Resistance_ Journal Entry #331\n\n**A Fill-In-The-Blanks Debrief, by a Change Practitioner Who Survived**\n\n> **TL;DR:** A fill-in-the-blanks story for every practitioner who has ever rolled off a project and needed a moment. Fill in the blanks. Read the story. Feel seen.\n\n_Instructions: Fill in the word list below WITHOUT reading the story first. Then transfer your answers to the matching numbered blanks. Share at your next community of practice meeting. Or just email it to your closest change peep. They'll appreciate the humor._\n\n## WORD LIST\n\n**1.** Your name ________________\n\n**2.** Corporate buzzword _(transformation / evolution / acceleration / excellence)_ ________________\n\n**3.** Vague verb _(align / elevate / modernize / reimagine)_ ________________\n\n**4.** Number between 6 and 24 _(months the project was already underway when you arrived)_ ________________\n\n**5.** Number between 2 and 8 _(weeks until go-live when you arrived)_ ________________\n\n**6.** Thing that is not change management _(communications / training / vibes / morale)_ ________________\n\n**7.** Dollar amount _(what you quoted)_ ________________\n\n**8.** Smaller dollar amount _(what they approved)_ ________________\n\n**9.** Name of person who is not the sponsor but acts like they are ________________\n\n**10.** Excuse _(any excuse — you have a collection)_ ________________\n\n**11.** Name of actual sponsor you will meet exactly once ________________\n\n**12.** Positive adjective _(committed / energized / bought-in / passionate)_ ________________\n\n**13.** Name of VP everyone knows is a problem ________________\n\n**14.** Adjective describing #13 _(cautious / skeptical / misaligned / a lot)_ ________________\n\n**15.** Important thing you were not funded to do _(impact assessment / readiness survey / resistance plan / stakeholder analysis)_ ________________\n\n**16.** Gentler name for #15 that survived the budget review ________________\n\n**17.** Number of slides in the communication deck they asked you to simplify ________________\n\n**18.** Number of slides it became after everyone gave feedback ________________\n\n**19.** Name of person who gave the most confusing feedback ________________\n\n**20.** Thing leadership cut from training _(the practice scenarios / the Q &A time / the second session / all of it)_ ________________\n\n**21.** Reason given for cutting #20 _(not enough time / too expensive / people can figure it out / we trust them)_ ________________\n\n**22.** Number of days after go-live the first crisis happened ________________\n\n**23.** Person blamed for the crisis _(the system / the users / the training / you)_ ________________\n\n**24.** Thing that was supposed to exist after you left but doesn't _(a sustainability plan / a change champion network / an internal CM owner / institutional memory)_ ________________\n\n**25.** Emotion you felt on your last day _(relief / grief / pride / numbness / all of the above)_ ________________\n\n**26.** Vague timeframe _(soon / once things settle / before the next wave / TBD)_ ________________\n\n**27.** Positive thing you will tell yourself before the next project ________________\n\n* * *\n\n## THE STORY\n\n _(Fill in your answers. Read slowly. You earned this.)_\n\n* * *\n\n### PLUS / MINUS / DELTA\n\n_A Project After-Action Review_ _By_ **__1__**_, Change Practitioner._ _Written from the parking lot, engine running._\n\n### PROPOSAL\n\nMy name is **__1__** and I was hired to help with the **__2__**.\n\nThe **__2__** was a **__2__** initiative to **__3__** the entire organization. It had been underway for **__4__** months. Nobody had thought to involve change management yet, because the project team believed that what they needed was not change management, but **__6__**.\n\nThey were incorrect.\n\nThey had a budget of **$__7__** for change management. After conversations I can only describe as **__14__** , this became **$__8__**.\n\n_Plus: I got the project._ _Minus: I got the project._\n\n### KICKOFF\n\nThe executive sponsor was **__11__**. **__11__** could not attend the kickoff because **__10__**. In his place was **__9__** , who said **__11__** was **__12__** and I would meet him **__26__**.\n\nI met **__11__** once. He seemed **__12__**. He had clearly not read the proposal.\n\nThere was also **__13__**. **__13__** was described to me as **__14__**. I wrote in my notebook: _do not let_ **__13__** _near the communication plan._ **__13__** ended up on the communication plan approval committee.\n\n_Plus: The kickoff had good snacks._ _Minus: The kickoff had no charter, no decision rights, and no**__11__**._ _Delta: Next time, ask to see the charter before accepting the snacks._\n\n### ASSESSMENT\n\nI proposed a **__15__**. Leadership said a **__15__** was not in scope. We compromised. I did a **__16__** , which was the same thing with a friendlier name and forty percent less funding.\n\nThe **__16__** found seventeen areas of significant risk.\n\nI presented eleven of them. **__9__** said this felt **__14__**. I presented seven. **__9__** said could we maybe do three. I presented three and called them _opportunities_.\n\nEveryone felt much better.\n\n_Plus: The**__16__** was genuinely good work._ _Minus: It is currently on page four of a SharePoint site nobody visits._ _Delta: Next time, laminate it._\n\n### PLANNING\n\nI built the communication plan. It had **__17__** slides. After **__19__** gave feedback, it had **__18__** slides, two new approval chains, and a section that contradicted the section before it in ways I was not allowed to fix.\n\n**__13__** reviewed it and said it was **__14__**.\n\n**__13__** always said everything was **__14__**. It was the only adjective **__13__** owned.\n\nI also built a training plan. The training plan included **__20__**. Leadership removed **__20__** because **__21__**. I explained why **__20__** mattered. Leadership nodded. **__20__** stayed removed.\n\n_Plus: The communication plan was approved._ _Minus: It took**__4__** weeks, three executive reviews, and one conversation I would describe as spiritual._ _Delta: Next time, start with fewer slides and more prayer._\n\n### EXECUTION\n\nI sent the communications. Some people read them. Most people did not. One person replied to all with a question that was answered in the communication they had not read. I answered it anyway. With a smile. Because that is what we do.\n\nI delivered the training. It was good training. I know it was good training because **__9__** told me it was good training right before asking if we could shorten it by half because **__21__**.\n\nWe shortened it by half.\n\n**__13__** did not attend the training. **__13__** sent a delegate. The delegate had not been briefed. The delegate had questions. I answered them. With a smile. Because that is still what we do.\n\n_Plus: People showed up._ _Minus: Showing up and being ready are different things, and only one of them showed up._ _Delta: Next time, define \"trained\" before the training starts._\n\n### GO-LIVE\n\nGo-live was on a **__16__**. This was not the original go-live date. The original go-live date had moved **__4__** times. I had updated the change plan each time without additional budget because **__21__**.\n\nFor approximately **__5__** hours, everything was fine.\n\nThen it was not fine.\n\n**__22__** days after go-live, the first crisis arrived. It was caused by **__23__**. Everyone agreed it was caused by **__23__**. This was not entirely accurate, but it was the version of events that required the least uncomfortable conversation, so it stood.\n\nI drafted a response communication. It was approved in record time. Crises, I have learned, have a wonderful effect on approval speed.\n\n_Plus: We went live._ _Minus: Several things went live with us that we were not expecting._ _Delta: Next time, the definition of \"ready\" goes in the charter, in writing, in a large font._\n\n### HYPERCARE\n\nHypercare lasted **__5__** weeks. During this time I answered **__17__** questions that were in the training materials, attended **__18__** meetings that could have been emails, and watched **__13__** take credit for three things he had previously described as **__14__**.\n\n**__11__** sent a note to the team congratulating everyone on a successful launch. It was a very nice note. He spelled my name wrong.\n\nI also discovered during Hypercare that **__24__** , which I had flagged as essential in the **__16__** , the planning phase, the execution phase, and a strongly worded email in week seven, did not exist. It had never been built. There was no owner. There was no plan to find an owner. **__9__** said they would sort it out **__26__**.\n\n_Plus: The users were resilient. People always are._ _Minus: They had to be, because we did not give them**__24__**._ _Delta: Next time,**__24__** is non-negotiable or I am non-attending._\n\n### ROLL-OFF\n\nOn my last day, I handed over a transition document that nobody requested. I sent a final note to **__9__** , who replied with a thumbs-up emoji. I received a LinkedIn recommendation from **__11__** that described me as _a consummate professional who elevated our**__6__** efforts_ and did not mention change management once.\n\nI sat in my car.\n\nI felt **__25__**.\n\nBoth things were true.\n\nI thought about **__13__** , who had been **__14__** about everything and was now, according to **__9__** , _leading the sustainment effort internally_. I thought about the **__15__** that became a **__16__** that became a SharePoint page. I thought about **__20__** , cut in planning, mourned at go-live, eulogized in Hypercare.\n\nI thought: I will do this differently next time.\n\nI will ask harder questions in the proposal phase. I will not accept **$__8__** when the work requires **$__7__**. I will put **__24__** in the contract. I will meet **__11__** before I start, not after I finish.\n\nI will tell myself **__27__**.\n\nAnd then someone will send an email that says _nothing too formal, just some_ **__6__** , and I will say yes, because this work matters, and because I am apparently constitutionally incapable of walking away from a project that needs me.\n\n_Plus: I am good at this._ _Minus: They rarely know what they hired._ _Delta: Keep going anyway._\n\n* * *\n\nThe Resistance salutes every practitioner who has ever written a transition document nobody requested.\n\n> **ChangeGuild** : Power to the Practitioner™\n\nJoin The Guild\n\n* * *",
  "title": "Fill In The Blanks: A Change Practitioner's Story",
  "updatedAt": "2026-03-28T13:03:55.466Z"
}