Your First 10 Days on a New Engagement - The communication playbook for project leaders stepping into complexity
When you arrive on a new engagement as an external project leader, you are judged long before your first plan, sprint board, or RAID log is approved.
People decide whether to trust you based on how you communicate in the first days:
who you talk to
what you ask
how clearly you explain what you are doing and why
In complex, high-tech environments, those first ten days largely determine whether you will be seen as just another pair of hands or as a trusted delivery partner.
High-impact project leaders treat the first ten days as a structured communication sprint.
Days 1–3: Map the human system before the technical one
The first priority is not the plan.
It is the people.
Start by identifying your key stakeholder groups:
executive sponsor(s)
delivery leads and architects
functional managers
informal influencers who shape opinion
In short, focused conversations, listen for three things:
How they define success
What they are worried about
Where they believe the project is really at
The quality of your questions matters. You are not collecting status; you are uncovering expectations, constraints, and hidden tensions.
Always close by playing back what you heard and clarifying your role:
how you will communicate
what you will own
how and when you will escalate
This alone prevents many misunderstandings later.
Days 4–7: Turn noise into clarity
Once you have a basic map of the human system, your next move is to make sense of the chaos.
Translate what you have learned into simple, visible artefacts:
a high-level project map (objectives, scope, dependencies)
a short risk narrative that explains why certain risks matter
a one-page “ways of working” draft
These artefacts do not need to be perfect. Their purpose is to trigger alignment — and disagreement — early.
Sharing early drafts is a powerful communication act. It shows that you:
structure complexity
see both technical and political dimensions
invite correction rather than defending assumptions
This is often the moment when sponsors begin to treat you as a partner rather than a contractor.
Days 8–10: Lock the communication cadence
With shared understanding emerging, you can now propose a clear communication rhythm:
weekly status or delivery touchpoints
regular risk and dependency reviews
sponsor check-ins
explicit escalation channels
Be concrete and outcome-focused:
“This is how you will stay informed, how problems will surface early, and how fast decisions will happen when we escalate.”
Clarity here prevents future frustration — especially mismatches between leaders expecting daily updates and teams assuming fortnightly reporting.
This is also where you protect your own position: you set expectations that are realistic, professional, and sustainable.
A reusable habit
Strong project leaders turn this into a repeatable checklist:
key conversations completed
artefacts created
cadences agreed
Refined over time, this becomes one of your most valuable delivery assets — because trust is built faster when communication is intentional.
Why this matters in practice
Clients rarely judge you on the sophistication of your templates.
They judge you on whether things feel clearer after you arrive.
At Escape, we see again and again that strong delivery starts with intentional communication in the first days — not with tools, plans, or frameworks.
If this resonates, it’s because this is exactly how our partners step into complex engagements: quietly, deliberately, and with a sharp focus on trust and clarity from day one.
