Does Your North Star Still Make Sense?

When I spoke with Jasmine O’Reilly of The Outlier Group in April, she touched on the concept of a North Star goal, the key business objective driving everything else in the project. This is a common idea in product management, but it hasn’t taken root in project management. I have been thinking about it ever since. 

A North Star goal in project management is a clear goal that shapes every decision and keeps teams aligned. It is that single point of focus that helps people move forward together, even when the work is complex and the stakes are high. The North Star gives everyone a common purpose, a reason to keep showing up, especially when things get tough.

But what happens when the rest of the world is shifting? In reality, it means your destination is probably going to shift too. 

Jasmine had great ideas on how to deal with this, too. She has been working with teams to rethink how they define project value and how they decide what matters most. Jasmine shared that even the best-intentioned leaders can lose sight of what their North Star is really for. They get so focused on achieving the stated goal that they forget to ask whether it is still the right goal.

She described how easy it is to go full tilt in the wrong direction. You see the metrics, you see the deadlines, and you feel the pressure to keep moving. Everyone is working hard, and from the outside, it might even look like progress. But if no one is checking whether the North Star still reflects what the project needs to achieve, you might be moving forward, but in the wrong direction.

This is not about poor leadership. It is about the simple reality that the world does not stand still. What seemed like the right direction six months ago might not be right today. New data, new challenges, and new priorities come up all the time. If teams do not pause to re-examine the North Star, they risk missing the real opportunity in front of them. Traditional project management sometimes saw change as a negative. However, a newer (and more rational) approach is emerging that acknowledges change as a constant instead of a negative. The best approach now? Anticipate change and respond to it.

Jasmine’s advice was to treat the North Star as a living idea. She does not see it as something set in stone. Instead, she looks at it like a hypothesis that needs to be tested again and again. She uses short, sharp check-ins to see if the goal still matches what the project is solving for. If it does, the team keeps going. If it does not, they regroup and pivot. She said that it is not about moving faster—it is about moving smarter.

This resonated deeply with me because I have seen the same dynamic in project oversight. Leaders ask for updates on tasks and timelines, but they do not always ask whether the work is still connected to what the business really needs. I see teams who are excellent at delivery, but they are delivering against an outdated target. They are measuring progress, but not direction.

That is why I am working on a new tool, the Project Payoff Checkup. It is designed to help project sponsors take a step back and ask the most important question: Are we still solving the right problem? The tool is simple by design. No heavy frameworks or jargon. Just a clear way to reconnect your team to the real payoff of the work.

I will be sharing more about the Project Payoff Checkup in the next newsletter. For now, I want to invite you to think about this question for your own work: Does your North Star still make sense? Is it still the goal that will bring the most value to your project and your stakeholders? If it is, that is great. Keep moving forward. If it is not, do not be afraid to pause, reassess, and realign.

Because progress is not about speed alone. It is about making sure you are heading in the right direction.

Putting It to Work: Four Questions to Ask

1. What has changed in our environment since we set this North Star?
2. Are we measuring progress or just activity?
3. Do our stakeholders still care about this outcome?
4. Is the North Star still solving the problem we started with?

If the answers are unclear, that is your chance to realign. Sometimes the biggest hurdle is acknowledging that change is needed. And don’t beat yourself up if you struggle with this. It can be challenging to jettison the old image of the future and replace it with a new one. Just remember, moving fast in the wrong direction is worse than taking a pause to see if a new direction is needed.

Eager for More?

If you’re rethinking how to stay aligned on project goals and lead through real-world shifts, these resources offer practical guidance:

• Podcast: Flexible Project Leadership Constant change, evolving stakeholder needs, and dispersed teams can twist even the best-planned projects into knots. Leadership expert Kevin Eikenberry joins Cornelius Fichtner to unpack how flexible leadership helps you bend without breaking and stay aligned when everything around you shifts.
• Article: How to Track Project Progress: Tools & Best Practices Explore methods and tools to measure project progress, ensuring that you stay focused on meaningful outcomes.
• Framework: Change Management at the Project Level Learn how to adapt and guide your team through ongoing changes without losing sight of your project’s purpose.

That’s it for this edition. I hope you found ideas to consider.

We look forward to being in touch again soon. If you have feedback, questions or suggestions that can’t wait until then, simply reply to this email and tell us what’s on your mind!

Let’s chat! Schedule here.

Project Uplift is Crevay’s free newsletter for project leaders. Each edition, sent every two weeks, includes items relevant to leading projects. We aim to be uplifting, insightful, and helpful.

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