Most projects don't fail in execution. They fail in the work days before kickoff which almost every PM course skips. Run a 2-minute check and find out where yours is already cracking.
Costs you nothing.... You might as well know.
The kickoff goes fine. The plan looks clean. Everyone nods.
Three weeks in, the scope is moving. The sponsor's gone quiet. Two stakeholders are working different versions of the same thing. The team is busy but the work isn't compounding.
Project research has been telling us the same thing for two decades. The PMI Pulse of the Profession, the Standish CHAOS Report, and the McKinsey project studies all converge on the same root causes: weak sponsorship, fuzzy value, stakeholder drift, unprepared teams, and a kickoff that didn't actually decide anything.
All of those failures get baked in before the project goes live.
You can't fix that mid-project. But you can spot the cracks before they spread.
A specific, dimensioned read on your project's foundation. And the place it's most likely to break.
A 1-line read on how solid your starting position actually is. No vague "you're doing great." No generic letter grade. A tier that names the work in front of you.
The 5 dimensions that most predict whether a project keeps its legs after kickoff. Scored individually, so you see where you're strong and where you're not.
Named, not hinted at. The single dimension most likely to be the thing that buckles if you don't address it before launch.
Not a sales pitch. A specific move you can make this week to firm up the spot you just saw.
The diagnostic adapts to where you are. The questions will branch accordingly
You've got a project in front of you, or one landing on your desk soon. You want to know which parts of the foundation are solid and which are about to cost you. The check diagnoses an in-flight foundation across project value, sponsor, stakeholders, team, and kickoff readiness.
You can see the work. You can see who's running it. You can see why you'd run it better. But the title hasn't shown up, and you're not sure what to do this week to change that. The check diagnoses the identity gap — and the upstream pieces that close it: authority, influence, mentorship, first move.
Designed by Jim Gabriel, founder of Archangel Operations. 20+ years running and rescuing projects across medical device development, aerospace, nuclear power, and engineering. The industries where "the foundation" isn't a metaphor. The diagnostic distills what consistently shows up before a project starts to wobble.
The 5 dimensions in this check aren't invented. They're the convergence point of the PMI Pulse of the Profession, the Standish CHAOS Report, and McKinsey/HBR project research. The same root causes show up in all of them. RPM Kickstarter, the course this diagnostic is drawn from, is the only project management course built specifically for the pre-execution phase that almost every other program skips.
Branched, so you only see the ones that fit your situation. About 2 minutes start to finish.
First name and email. That's it. So we can send you your results and the weekly project leadership letter.
Instantly. No waiting, no "check your inbox." Read it on the page right after you submit.
2 minutes. 6 questions. One honest read on the work in front of you.
Costs you nothing. Takes 2 minutes. You might as well know.
About 2 minutes. 6 questions, branched so you only see the ones relevant to your situation. The longest part is the page transitions.
Three things, instantly: a foundation tier, a per-dimension read on 5 areas, and a named call-out on the single dimension most likely to be your weakest link. All on the page. No email waiting required.
No. The diagnostic is free, and the results are the point. No payment required. If you receive additional information in the future, you can unsubscribe anytime.
Send you your results, and future tips to improve your PM leadership skills. That's it. No selling, no sharing, no third-party data brokers.
No. The diagnostic has two paths. One for people already leading a project (or about to), one for people who want to lead but haven't been handed one yet. You'll pick which one fits in the first question.
Pick the one that's slightly truer than the other. The scoring is built to tolerate that. What matters is the pattern across all 5 dimensions, not any single answer.
Most leaders find out their project's foundation was weak only after it's too late to fix without a fight. You don't have to be one of them.
Costs you nothing... You might as well know.
© 2026 Archangel Operations LLC. Your email is used to send your diagnostic results and the weekly project leadership letter. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Results from RPM Kickstarter vary and depend on your situation, effort, and the projects you apply the work to. We share the methodology; what you do with it is yours.
This site is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Meta, Facebook, or Instagram. Facebook and Instagram are trademarks of Meta Platforms, Inc