Boardroom Fire Drill: A CEO’s 90‑Day Blueprint for Re‑Igniting a Stalling Product

Only 3‑in‑10 software projects land on time and on budget, and nearly 70 % of digital‑transformation programmes fall short of their promised value. Layer on the trillions skimmed off global P&Ls by unchecked technical debt and you have the perfect storm. If customers are grumbling, costs keep creeping, or your board looks restless, the product is already in the danger zone.

Dashboard Warnings You Can’t Ignore

• Deadlines keep slipping — four missed launch dates in a row point to a systemic issue, not bad luck.

• Costs climb while progress stalls — a signal that re‑work and past shortcuts are silently draining momentum.

• The board is debating task‑level details — when directors drill into tickets, they’ve lost faith in the strategic plan.

Treat two flashing warnings as a crisis worthy of CEO‑level attention.

The 90‑Day Recovery Framework

• Phase 1 — Stabilise (Days 0‑30)

  • Begin with a Red‑Flag Review: a rapid, top‑to‑bottom audit of spend, customer impact, and product health. The output is a one‑page heat‑map that makes clear what must not break while you fix the rest.

• Phase 2 — Re‑Focus (Days 31‑60)

  • Re‑anchor priorities on the two or three customer journeys that drive most revenue or retention. Ship a visible confidence milestone inside 30 days—momentum beats perfection every time.

• Phase 3 — Scale Momentum (Days 61‑90)

  • Embed lightweight governance that survives beyond the rescue: weekly ship‑reviews, monthly OKR checkpoints, and a quarterly architecture runway. These rituals keep teams honest without adding drag.

    
    

Why an Interim CTO Is Often the Smartest Move

A seasoned outsider arrives free of internal politics, diagnoses root causes in days, and brings proven 30/60/90‑day playbooks that have rescued multiple products before. You gain deep expertise for a fixed window—far less risky than recruiting a full‑time executive before the ship is steady. Along the way, the interim leader mentors in‑house managers, recalibrates hiring bars, and even helps you recruit the permanent CTO/CPTO once stability returns. Most importantly, compressing the diagnosis‑to‑action cycle safeguards enterprise value; every month of delay can shave points off market capitalisation.

Key Takeaway

Products rarely implode from a single bug; they bleed out through mis‑alignment, hidden debt, and delivery opacity. A focused 90‑day intervention—designed to stabilise, re‑align, and institutionalise pace—can stop the value leakage and restart growth.

If your roadmap feels like a runaway train, let’s run a board‑level fire drill and get it back on the rails—fast. Message me directly or email michael@theimpactcto.com.

Find out more at www.theimpactcto.com.