Every supply chain project starts with the same kind of optimism: a team of smart people, a detailed plan, and a stack of RFPs ready to go. Then somewhere between kickoff and completion, the waters get murky.
Suddenly, what began as a straightforward sourcing effort turns into a tangle of metrics, pricing models, and competing priorities. Stakeholders drift. Objectives blur. The project becomes about the process instead of the purpose.
I’ve seen this pattern more times than I can count, and not because people aren’t trying. It happens because we confuse movement with progress. The RFP fills up with hundreds of questions. The dashboards multiply. The meetings pile up. But without clear, measurable objectives, even the best-run project can lose its bearings.
That’s why every successful supply chain initiative I’ve worked on starts in the same place: with a shared understanding of what we’re really trying to achieve. Clear objectives are the compass that keeps everyone aligned, from procurement to mobility, from HR to finance, no matter how choppy the waters get.
Because when you know your destination, the decisions along the way become a whole lot easier.
Why Objectives Get Lost
Every supply chain project starts with good intentions. Everyone agrees on the goal, the kickoff goes smoothly, and the project plan looks airtight. Then somewhere along the way, the original objectives quietly disappear, buried under process, politics, and PowerPoints.
It’s not sabotage. It’s drift.
By the time an RFP lands, teams are juggling dozens of competing priorities: cost, quality, service, technology, compliance, culture, and a dozen other “critical” factors. Somewhere between the spreadsheets and the sales demos, the purpose starts to blur.
It happens everywhere, from Fortune 100 programs to boutique projects with ten people in the room. Smart, well-meaning people get caught up in the mechanics of selection and forget the “why” behind it all. The irony? The more complex the project, the easier it is to lose focus.
In mobility supply chains, this drift can be subtle but expensive. Teams evaluate suppliers based on a 40-tab workbook of pricing models and service metrics, only to realize, months later, that the chosen partner doesn’t actually solve the business problem that started the project.
That’s when the frustration sets in. And it’s usually the same sentence every time: “How did we end up here?”
The truth is, without clear, measurable objectives, even the best-run sourcing process can look impressive on paper but fail in practice. The meetings were thorough, the analysis was robust, the vendor presentations were polished, and the outcome still missed the mark.
It’s not that people don’t care. It’s that complexity quietly hijacks clarity. That’s why the most effective mobility leaders I know begin every project with a simple, old-fashioned question:
“What are we actually trying to accomplish here?”
Everything else, the data, the process, the RFP, should serve that answer.