So we are in the process of renovating our schools in Manchester. One of the projects in particular is my "baby". I came up with the plan, I advocated for it, and I got what I wanted. The plan went to referendum and it passed. So I'm really happy...

Except that a year later, the plan starts to smell bad. A green haze is now eminating from the site. It is looking less and less desireable. How could this be? How could I have thought up something that isn't working out?

Well, the answer is simple, really. Nothing ever goes to plan. The plan was to refurbish an indoor pool, buy some houses and knock them down to make green space, and add parking adjacent to the site. But the plan won't work. There isn't enough money to buy the houses. So they decided to try knocking down a building on the site that we were not going to use instead. But the Historical people don't want to let us. And the project is over budget. They want us to cut our scope. In short, the project is smelling worse and worse.

So what do you do? Do you keep on pushing a bad position? Do you see it through no matter what? Or do you cut and run and delay everything?

At the end of the day, I'm going to watch and wait. I want to wait and see how bad it smells and how thick the green haze gets. At some point, I will have to decide. But I will "take my name" off this thing if it stops being okay for the kids.