Seth Buchanan

Most project consulting follows a predictable pattern: 

▶ Bring in a Project Leader 
▶ Finish the project 
▶ Release the resources
▶ Start over with someone new for the next initiative

Here's what I've learned after years in telecom and manufacturing: Organizations lose too much money and valuable expertise in that project cycle. 

My team and I believe we can solve this problem. 

Connective is able to deploy Project Leaders to supplement your teams for those relatively short ~20% capital ramps. 

This gets our customers access to quality leaders quickly, and when the projects are complete, we're off your books and you can save labor expense without painful RIFs. 

Many firms use staffing firms to accomplish this, but I believe our product may suit different needs: 

✅ Our leaders are proven, full-time, best in class project leaders trained in wireless project leadership, sales, data analysis, and AI.
✅ CPC can provide a 5-business day ramp time. Compare to an average 30-45 day average to hire an FTE or contract position.
✅ CPC Project leaders are paired with a Project Executive for added support and experience. Staffing firms do not support your projects past the filling of a req. 



If you need to scale your teams quickly but want to stay lean and flexible, I'd love to have a conversation: https://calendly.com/seth-buchanan-cpc/30min

Founder | CEO

Projects can seem untamable. It can be tempting to feel that thrilling results are out of reach, but this is not true! Connective has the expertise to help you master project delivery with tools you already have available. Plan your projects with great detail, master a small number of key metrics, and lead your teams to execute with precision.

When I was a boy my father worked as an executive in telecom leading national wireless deployments primarily for ATT vendors.

He had a very successful career and by all measures was very good at what he did. He was also family focused. Something that he and I share.

Because he prioritized time with his family 𝗶𝘁 𝗴𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗵𝗶𝗺 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗳𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹 and he would be forced to work late hours and weekends.

As I graduated college and worked in the wireless industry for over a decade, I found that 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗼𝗻 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀.

🔹𝘞𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘳𝘴 are sandwiched between the billions of dollars at stake for missed deadlines and the constant stream of surprises that appear and derail project goals.

🔹𝘚𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘈𝘤𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘮𝘴 even those with stellar reputations face significant downward pressure on pricing and struggle to deliver a consistent product over time.

🔹𝘛𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘴 though flush with resources and relationships see the same pricing and consistency issues while also contending with internal competing incentives.

At every corner of the industry wireless professionals give up their personal lives to overcome these obstacles.

🔆𝘐 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦🔆

During my time at Crown Castle serving many different carriers, my team and I developed a 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗱 that significantly improved our quality of life and the quality of our customers lives

I'm offering to help you regain control of your lives

If we work together to create comprehensive project plans:
✅Your inbox will be under control 
✅Your calendar will have space to create 
✅Your teams will be able to anticipate problems and address them before they occur 
✅You your teams and your customers will 𝗻𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 and address what's broken

Having lived in this world for so long myself I suspect you're tired of the unpredictability of project management impacting the more important things.

I want to help 

Ready to take your evenings back?
Drop a comment if this hits home, share your story, or follow for more on fixing project chaos.

undefined undefined

Founder

Crown Castle

OIT Helpdesk Consultant

Financial Representative Intern

Project Leadership  |  Scaling infrastructure teams  |  Planning, Analytics, Accountability

Project Leadership | Scaling infrastructure teams | Planning, Analytics, Accountability

Staffing FTE PMs is costly. Too much downtime. 

Hiring contractors is risky. A roll of the dice. 

A consultant partner gives you the most value: 

- Never pay for downtime between projects 

- Keep expertise across projects rather than starting over with each new contractor

- Bring in best-practices from a proven firm and permanently elevate your team


🏀 It's a slam dunk 🏀

Everyone said Memphis was impossible.

Every candidate warned me,
"Don't bother, that city never approves wireless work on time."

They all had stories.
Long waits. Lost paperwork. Endless runaround.

But my Site Acq Specialist ignored the noise.
Instead, she built a real relationship with the one person who mattered.

She learned his name, his history, his pain points.
She knew exactly what tripped him up on other permits.
She knew what he actually needed to see before signing off.

When it was time to file, it wasn't a gamble.
It was a lock.

The result?
Almost 50 permits, average four-day turnaround.
Record number of NTPs that month.
🚀𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗱 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗽𝗲𝗲𝗿, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲𝗱.🚀

None of this was luck or brute force.

It was simple:
1. Build real relationships early, before you need them.
2. Identify where the friction will be months before it shows up.

If your projects are stuck, ask yourself one thing:
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽𝘀 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆?

And if you're just getting started,plan your relationship-building as seriously as you plan your deliverables.

It's the only way to make the "impossible" look easy.

Project leaders have to learn to 😬 disagree 😬 with others. People that do so skillfully are automatically seen as more senior.  

Here's some tips for all levels that will help you disagree credibly.  

1. 𝐀𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭.

"How did you come to that conclusion?"
"Have you thought about 'x'?" 

2. 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐟 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬. 

"I appreciate you prioritizing _____ in this decision" 
"I see where you're coming from"

3. 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠. 

"I believe _____ based on _____"

4. 𝐌𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 

If it doesn't go your way...

Don't get bitter and drag the other guy to your colleagues after. 
Don't keep swinging after the decision is made. 
DO support the decided path (no you don't have to fake agreement to do this).

Hiring full-time project leads for short-term capital projects is a trap.

Most companies still do it.

It sounds safe. It feels proactive. But it leads straight to bloat.

Here's what really happens:
You need extra horsepower for a ramp-up. You stack the team. Projects launch. Budgets balloon. After the surge? You're left scrambling for ways to keep the hires busy or awkwardly cutting roles.

It's expensive. It's slow. And it creates noise in the org chart.

There's a better way.

Bring in project leaders only when needed. Deploy them fast, scale down just as fast. No long-term headcount, no deferred HR problems.

End result? Every dollar goes to work. No fat, no wasted overhead.

Deploy for the sprint. Cut when the race is over.

If your team still thinks traditional hiring is the way for capital ramps, you're burning cash and time.

Stop solving short-term problems with permanent staff.

Everyone overcomplicates capital projects.

You hear talk about million-dollar software and "agile transformations."

But the best project control tools? They're free.

- Work Breakdown Structure
- RACI Matrix
- RAID Log or RAIL List 
- Kanban Board

No licenses. No consultants. Just discipline.

A work breakdown structure forces you to define the job, piece by piece. No more confusion about what's missing. No more scope creep.

A RACI matrix makes finger pointing impossible. Everyone knows who owns what, who supports, who decides. Ambiguity dies. Accountability finally breathes.

A Kanban board kills stalled work. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗲𝗲 your bottlenecks. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗲𝗲 who's overloaded. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗲𝗲 what's stuck. That means faster responses and fewer dropped balls.

I've seen $200M projects run smoother with a whiteboard and sticky notes than with the fanciest software.

The expensive stuff is nice. But if you can't manage a board, a breakdown, and clear roles, you're burning money.

🎯🎯🎯Stop chasing silver bullets. 🎯🎯🎯

Master the simple things first.


Agree or disagree? Drop your take in the comments.

If you've seen simple tools beat fancy software, share your story

Anyone who says they're using AI to manage large capital projects is lying to you. Here's one way LLMs have 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 made a positive impact on one of our projects... 

1️⃣ 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗮 '𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁' 𝗶𝗻 𝗲𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗲, ChatGPT, or whatever LLM you like that offers that feature. Upload relevant context to said project. 

This is a great way to analyze and compare large documents. Big CapEx projects may have 10-20 100+ page scope docs that overlap. 

🚨Be mindful of your company/customer's privacy rules🚨 

2️⃣ 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱/𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗠𝗦 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 

This is good practice even without the LLM-assist. Good record keeping and 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 2𝘮𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘳 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳. 

3️⃣ 𝗨𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗟𝗠 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀. 

Write instructions in your project dictating how you want the summaries to look. 

4️⃣ 𝗦𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗲𝘀. 

This is so helpful because 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘈𝘕𝘋 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘴. 

Are you gonna pay another resource to take notes?? NO

5️⃣𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿. 

You can go back and query against these files later to see when a decision was made, who had an action item, or why certain things went down. 

6️⃣ 𝗨𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗮 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗠𝗦 𝗟𝗶𝘀𝘁, 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. 

Small projects may have 10-30 rolling action items. 

Large projects may have 100! 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴.

_________________________________

Drop your thoughts below.
Have you tried any of these steps, or do you have your own twist?
Comment, like, or follow to keep the ideas coming.

Know that person in every meeting? The one who's got a radar for every problem, but never shows up with a solution? 🚨

We've all been them at some point. It feels like contributing. It feels safe. But it's a trap!

Listing problems isn't progress. 𝗦𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁. 💡

Here's where real leaders separate themselves:

- Surprise spike in workload? Line up backup vendors before the flood.
- Critical task falling off pace? Build live reporting to catch dips before they spiral.
- Jurisdiction stalls your permits? Have fast-track fees pre-approved, don't scramble after.
- Upstream delays clog your pipelines? Shift folks from noncritical work, clear the logjam.
- Material shipments slow? Identify steps you can pull forward now to make up lost time.

Proactive beats reactive, every time. 🔄

A mentor hammered it into me: 𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗽𝗮𝘆 𝘂𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲. If you're only flagging trouble, you're not adding value.

What's the most creative solution your team's used to get ahead of risk?
Tag someone you know who always brings answers, not just problems. 🏆

Experts say to keep LinkedIn strictly business, but if I'm being honest, it gets a little boring. I'm a team player though so here's the most cringe way I can think of to keep things pRoFessiOnaL: 

5 Ways Project Management Hooks Results > 

🎣By involving all stakeholders early we ensure no opportunity for improvement escapes. 
🎣Like catching prized fish we celebrate each project milestone that is successfully brought aboard. 
🎣Steering through the projects ups and downs requires a steady hand and a clear compass . 
🎣Tackling tasks methodically ensures that even the biggest project challenges don't slip away. 
🎣Every project has its big fish success story that once caught becomes a tale of legendary teamwork and achievement.

It's been a while since I've gotten to fish but here's my daughter and I tracking a deer this year.


Help me think of deer-related project management metaphors in the comments:

There's a way to instantly boost trust with your customers and your team. It costs nothing.

Trust leads to less email. Fewer calls. Fewer escalations. More influence. Better project outcomes.

Here's the move: 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗹𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆. 

Every. Single. Time.

Not with solutions. Nobody can do that. What you can do is simple:
1. Acknowledge you got it.
2. Say when you'll update them. That's it.

Example:
Customer: Seth, these site plans don't look right. Equipment might block path in and out. Can you check?
Me, ASAP: Got it. Sent to construction manager. I'll update you by EOD, even if I don't have the answer.

This works. Every year, I hear the same thing from clients and stakeholders: Fast response builds trust, even when the fix takes weeks.


I ask my teams to do this. I hold myself to it. It means keeping my own messages short, clear, and cutting any noise. More on that next time.

Try it for a week! Comment here when you notice the impact.

Most projects don't fail because of bad plans.

They fail because the pace gets slow, then slower, until nobody can remember what the real deadline was.

Project leaders control the tempo.

𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗯𝘆 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝘀𝗸 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀.

Talk in hours, not days.

▪️Instead of, "can we meet next week?" 
▪️ask, "can we meet this afternoon?"
▪️swap, "Let's revisit after the weekend?"
▪️for, "can we review progress tomorrow morning?"

Push for a near impossible turnaround. Then ask, "why not?"

No, this won't make every task move at light speed.

But I've watched top execs shift the energy in a room just by resetting expectations on the spot. That momentum is contagious.

Recovery is always uncomfortable. People will grumble. But a little friction now beats failure later, every time.


Have you seen language speed up a project? Or does it cause too much friction?
Drop your story below, share this post, or follow for more sharp project leadership ideas.

taplio

Seth Buchanan's Linkedin Analytics

Seth Buchanan

Performance ScoreSeth Buchanan's LinkedIn Performance

Seth Buchanan's Best Posts (last 30 days)

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

.css-6ytdur{background-image:linear-gradient(284deg, rgba(39, 43, 72, 1) 0%, rgba(33, 47, 183, 1) 100%);color:transparent;-webkit-background-clip:text;background-clip:text;}Seth Buchanan's Linkedin Analytics

Seth Buchanan

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Seth Buchanan's LinkedIn Performance

Seth Buchanan's Best Posts .css-1emoo84{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:400;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);}(last 30 days)

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Seth Buchanan's Linkedin Analytics

Performance ScoreSeth Buchanan's LinkedIn Performance

Seth Buchanan's Best Posts (last 30 days)