Managing the context: Level 4 and the power of supranormal awareness
Most project managers are trained to look inside the plan: scope, milestones, deliverables, risks. But what happens when the real challenges live outside it?
Level 4 of the Project Diagnosis Framework isn’t about managing the project as defined—it’s about understanding the system surrounding it. This is where Super PMs operate differently. They diagnose the organizational terrain they’re delivering through. Because when the context is broken, the project breaks with it.
VUCA is your daily operating environment
Level 4 begins with a simple truth: high-tech projects don’t unfold in stable, predictable environments. They unfold in VUCA conditions—volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity.
Super PMs accept this and adjust accordingly. They know that:
Organizational priorities shift mid-project
Stakeholder alignment is temporary
Decision pathways aren’t always rational or visible
Resources may be promised but not delivered
Matrixed teams often follow local incentives, not global goals
In this environment, the PM’s job is to sense the shifts, decode hidden friction, and lead through ambiguity. That’s the mindset Level 4 diagnosis demands.
When the real project risks aren’t in the plan
Traditional risk registers rarely include entries like:
“Sponsor no longer fully supports the project”
“Engineering doesn’t trust marketing”
“Product roadmap is being quietly rewritten”
“Organizational weak points are not being addressed”
“Siloed thinking rather than systemic thinking”
“Leadership team doesn’t agree on the trade-offs”
But these are often the real reasons projects slow down, fail, or get deprioritized. Level 4 helps PMs surface these unspoken dynamics so they can be addressed before they quietly sabotage delivery.
Some of the areas Level 4 targets:Leadership misalignment or indecision
Organizational politics or power struggles
Conflicting incentives across functions
Lack of understanding of specific challenges and problems
Lack of buy-in on certain initiatives
Siloed communication and trust breakdowns
Hidden changes in business strategy
Chronic overload from parallel initiatives or operations
Weak prioritization across the portfolio
These are called supranormal challenges—not because they’re rare, but because they sit above the project itself. You don’t find them in the WBS. You uncover them through interviews, a level 4 diagnostic framework, observation, and systems thinking.
In the field of project management there is a tendency to believe that the schedule is determined by the volume of defined work to be done. In reality, it can also be dependent on impediments and even blockers. Sometimes those impediments or hazards are not directly within the project, but external to it. We label these challenges as Supranormal - beyond normal expectations.
Level 4 makes invisible blockers visible
Super PMs use Level 4 to map how they interact. A misaligned leadership team might delay decisions, which blocks procurement, which starves engineering of parts, which creates scope compromises that product can’t accept. You fix that by managing the system.
Level 4 diagnosis equips PMs to:
Escalate the right issues to the right leaders
Frame problems in terms of strategic impact, not blame
Understand where alignment is missing and why
Using effective communication to find solutions
Broaden and deepen understanding across the organisation where necessary
Determine workarounds if weaknesses cannot be solved
Adjust tactics to influence without authority
ecommend portfolio-level trade-offs when needed
It’s not about working harder. It’s about seeing the terrain for what it really is.
Personal Story: A green initiative, which was awesome challenges
In 2014-15, I was a contract program manager for Seagate Technology. I had been interviewed by two senior program managers for the position. They effectively described the program as a “poisoned chalice” - was I willing to take it on? They asked. Sometimes I am a glutton for punishment, so I accepted the challenge.
To put the program into context, Seagate is the world’s largest supplier of storage hardware and software for data centres. That is a little-known fact because they white-label their hardware. In 2014 the EU were pressing for green initiatives and established targets for the chemical content of electronic hardware imported into the EU. This included aggressive targets for the composition of lead solder, plus the chemical composition of all electronic components and connectors. The threat was that if a supplier did not meet the new regulatory standards, then they would not be able to sell their products into the EU.
Large customers of cloud computing hardware became very anxious with this situation and started to pressurise Seagate to ensure that their future systems met the new, stringent green standards. Seagate was a large equipment manufacturer, but bought in a large number of sub-systems. Some of those sub-system manufacturers bought in many components and sub-systems from other suppliers. The supply chain for a 19” rack-mounted hardware was awesomely complex, and the assembly process was even more complex.
The first phase of the engineering change program was to completely analyse the chemical make-up of every part and every component in the system. That in itself was an enormous task, and it took a momentous effort to persuade or force suppliers to go through this meticulous process. To make matters worse, I had to operate through our supply chain department. They themselves were not really interested in helping me and in persuading suppliers. It was an uphill struggle.
Having identified material or components that did not meet the chemical content standard, the equipment manufacturers then had to re-design their product with replacement parts. This would mean that they would need to re-design, re-prototype, re-validate and re-qualify their hardware. Furthermore, component and sub-assembly stock would need to be made redundant and scrapped. The economic incentive for suppliers to make the difficult and expensive changes were largely absent, and yet the commercial pressure from Seagate’s key customers was intense. This is classically referred to as “being between a rock and a hard place”.
Naturally, the executive chain of key customers, pushed yet harder on Seagate’s commercial management, and at one time there was a high-level program escalation, with one of Seagate’s commercial directors claiming that “there was absolutely nothing happening on the program”. I was called into a crisis meeting with my boss’, boss’ boss. Fortunately, based on my well practiced and well-structured communication skills, I was able to explain the complete program situation in 15 minutes. In fact a considerable momentum had been built into the program already. I was praised and thanked for my efforts and progress.
What was interesting about this particular case, was the widespread communication and persuasion campaign that was needed to actually get progress and momentum on the project across numerous engineering departments, including operations, engineering change control, suppliers and supply chain. It takes an extreme level of campaigning to make any headway. It also illustrates the dangers of stakeholder detachment and lack of understanding.
I would describe many of the challenges as supranormal. Dealing with the challenges required immense skill and determination.
Conclusion
Most projects aren’t undone by bad tasks—they’re undone by bad context. Level 4 is where experienced PMs shift from execution to influence, from project focus to systemic awareness. By diagnosing the supranormal challenges around the work—not just inside it—Super PMs protect delivery, build credibility, and operate one level above the chaos.
