The Ground Truth
Real PM problems.
Real decisions.
What actually happened.
A physical monthly letter for project & program managers.
Every month, I take one real situation from inside my work as a Senior Program Manager and break down what happened, what I decided, what worked, what didnāt, and what Iād do differently.
$10/month
Join The Ground Truth
A letter, not a feed
Iām Dr. B, a working Senior Program Manager.
The Ground Truth is where I break down the part of project management that usually gets learned the hard way: difficult stakeholders, delayed decisions, messy tradeoffs, second-guessed calls, and what happens when the process doesnāt give you a clean answer.
Every month, I mail you one physical letter.
No algorithm. No AI-written stories. No polished version after everything worked out.
Just a real situation, the decision I made, what happened next, and what Iād change.
- One physical letter mailed every month
- Real situations from inside my work
- What I decided, what worked, what didnāt, and what Iād change
- Something you can hold instead of scroll past
Whatās inside each edition
Every edition starts with a real project situation.
You may read about:
- A decision I second-guessed
- A stakeholder problem I had to work through
- Something that nearly went wrong
- Something I tried that failed
- Something that finally worked
- What I would do differently next time
This is not a collection of project management tips.
It is one real situation, unpacked from the inside.
The point isnāt to copy my answer
You may have handled the situation differently.
Thatās the point.
The Ground Truth is designed to help you sharpen your judgment, recognize difficult situations earlier, and think through the decisions that come with leading projects when the answer is not obvious.
You see what happened.
You see what I decided.
Then you decide what you would have done.
What PMs are saying
āThe first edition was thoughtful, practical, and genuinely valuable. It offered the kind of honest, experience-based leadership insight that project and program managers can immediately connect with and apply.ā
Amanda C.
Ground Truth subscriber
āI love the honesty about the real challenges of project management. Sometimes, you canāt let a roadblock keep standing in the way, and you have to take a risk.ā
Jennifer T.
Ground Truth subscriber
āAssess the āwhy,ā weigh it against project risk, prioritize human relationships, and move forward. Excellent!ā
Chris B.
Ground Truth subscriber
How it works
The Ground Truth is mailed once a month.
When you subscribe, your mailing address is collected at checkout so I know where to send your letter.
Your subscription renews monthly until you cancel.
$10/month
Join The Ground TruthThis is for PMs doing the actual work
The Ground Truth is for project and program managers who deal with things like:
- stakeholders who do not respond
- decisions they cannot make themselves
- accountability without full control
- shifting priorities
- difficult tradeoffs
- projects that do not follow the textbook
If your job is clean, predictable, and everybody answers your emails on time, you probably do not need this letter.
Who is Dr. B?
Iām Dr. Brian Ables, PMP, a working Senior Program Manager.
Iāve spent more than two decades leading people, projects, programs, and organizations in high-pressure environments, including 21 years in the Air Force community and now in defense contracting.
Iāve worked on programs measured in billions of dollars.
But The Ground Truth is not about my rƩsumƩ.
It is about what happens after the meeting starts, the plan changes, the stakeholder pushes back, and someone still has to make a decision.
That is the part of project management I write about.
Get The Ground Truth
One physical letter mailed every month.
Written by me.
Real PM problems.
Real decisions.
What actually happened.
$10/month
Join The Ground TruthMonthly subscription. Cancel anytime.
Not ready for the physical letter?
Start with The Sunday Debrief.
Itās my free weekly email about project management, leadership, career decisions, and the situations that donāt always make it into a LinkedIn post.
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