If Washington Hired a Project Manager — Not Another Businessman, the Shutdown Would Be Over by Lunch

Everyone loves to say we should “run the country like a business.”

Sure — if the goal is to go bankrupt, blame your competitors, and give yourself a bonus while the lights go out.

We don’t need another businessman who measures success in profits and photo ops.

We need a Project Manager who knows how to build a plan, manage risk, and actually deliver outcomes.

Because a PM doesn’t “cut costs” by cutting people — we reallocate resources, align stakeholders, and fix the process.

We don’t go golfing when it gets messy — we run a retrospective, own the problem, and move forward.

That’s leadership.

And honestly, if Washington hired a Project Manager, the shutdown would be over by lunch — with action items, owners, and a follow-up meeting already on the calendar.

It’s not about politics.

It’s about people trying to survive while the people in charge play tug-of-war with our lives.

Everywhere I look, folks are angry — but not at the right things. We’re yelling at each other across digital fences while the people who represent us dig in, shut down, and still collect their paychecks on time. Their healthcare stays intact. Their lights stay on. Their mortgages get paid.

Meanwhile, federal workers are showing up without pay, families are juggling two jobs, and teachers are still buying their own classroom supplies.

We shouldn’t be mad at each other.

At the core, we’re not divided — we’re just exhausted from having to pick between food, rent, and healthcare like it’s some twisted game show.

We’re mad that it takes weeks of work to cover one electric bill.

We’re mad that seniors have to cut their pills in half, that the middle class keeps shrinking, and that “affordable” has become a cruel joke.

We’re mad that the solution to the political gridlock is to stop governing altogether.

Here’s the kicker: shutting down the government doesn’t shut down their paychecks.

They’ll still eat, sleep, and get treated.

We’re the ones left trying to stretch pay periods that no longer stretch far enough.

At some point, we have to stop fighting each other and start fixing what’s broken.

We need to find common ground — to compromise, not cancel; to collaborate, not compete.

Because not everything we each want has to be a stopping point.

Trump’s supporters said they wanted him so he could “run the country like a business.”

Cool idea — except we’ve seen how that goes.

How many bankruptcies now? Mismanaged money, dodged accountability, overspent on bad decisions — sound familiar?

We don’t need another CEO who can “cut costs” by cutting corners and stuffing their pockets. We need a Project Manager who can actually deliver outcomes.

A PM doesn’t just talk about efficiency; we build systems that work.We don’t get to walk away from the mess when the numbers don’t add up — we fix the process, manage the risks, and get the damn thing back on track.

Running a country isn’t about profits — it’s about priorities.

And maybe if we treated it like a project — with goals, owners, timelines, and a working feedback loop — we’d stop shutting down every time adults refuse to collaborate.

And Here’s Where I Come In

At this point, I’m convinced the only thing missing in Washington is… me.

A Project Manager.

Someone who can stare down chaos, ask “what’s the goal here?” and not accept “political theater” as a deliverable.

Because clearly, no one’s running this project.

We’ve got missed deadlines, unclear roles, zero communication plan, and 100% scope creep.

They’re not even arguing about solutions anymore — they’re arguing about who gets blamed first.

That’s not leadership. That’s  toddler scrum.

Current Status Report: RED 🛑

• Budget: Overdue. Dependencies ignored. Stakeholders hostile.

• Healthcare: Requirements unclear. Testing failed. No owner assigned.

• Immigration: Timeline undefined. Change requests piling up. Scope explosion imminent.

• Minimum wage: Stuck in backlog since 2009.

• Climate: Risks documented, mitigation ignored. Urgency downgraded to “politically inconvenient.”

If this were my project, everyone in Congress would’ve been on a corrective-action plan three shutdowns ago.

What I’d Do Differently

• Kickoff meeting with ground rules: One mic, no interruptions, and anyone who says “my constituents” without data gets parked in the parking lot section of the agenda.

• Re-baseline the timeline: You’ve been “working on it” since the Bush administration. Let’s reset expectations and add actual dates.

• Define success metrics: “Winning the next election” isn’t an outcome. “Functional government” is.

• Tie compensation to delivery: No budget? No paycheck. Simple risk mitigation.

• Weekly standups: Keep it short, keep it real, and anyone who filibusters gets muted.

The Real Problem: No PM Mindset

They’re treating politics like improv — not projects.

No plan, no milestones, no one managing dependencies between “what we want” and “what’s actually possible.”

They need someone who knows how to:

• Translate chaos into clarity.

• Separate noise from signal.

• Turn “we disagree” into “we’ll prototype and test.”

In short, they need someone who knows how to get sh*t done without a government shutdown.

Closing Thoughts

Every day, regular people are forced to compromise — with budgets, with family, with reality.

We communicate, adjust, and adapt. That’s life. That’s project management.

Meanwhile, the people in charge can’t agree on lunch.

So yes, America — hand me the whiteboard and the Wi-Fi password.

We’ll have a functioning government by Q2, stakeholders aligned by Q3,

and a retrospective in Q4 titled:

“Lessons Learned: Stop Arguing and Start Delivering.”