hardScenarioBehaviouralSeniorStaffLead
A platform team your program depends on has just told you their deliverable will land three weeks late, and it is on your critical path. How do you handle telling the VP the launch date has moved?
5 min readUpdated 2026-08-15
Answer
Short answer
Establish the real new date before you talk to anyone, by re-running the critical path with the slip in it rather than adding three weeks to the end. Then present one recommended date with the two rejected options and what each would have cost.
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Likely follow-ups
- The platform lead tells you privately that three weeks is optimistic and it is more likely five. Do you present three or five to the VP?
- What would you have had in place before this call that would have let you answer the new date within a day rather than a week?
- The VP accepts the new date but asks you to hold the original one publicly for another two weeks while they manage upwards. How do you respond?
- How does your approach change if the dependency is on an external vendor with a contractual milestone rather than an internal team?
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