Tom was the project manager for a large IT project. He had managed several such projects in the past and had been able to finish half of those successfully (the others either went over budget or completed later than promised). This new project was more complex, and he was determined to complete it on time and on budget. The project was with a new multinational company and could have led to many more such contracts, should the customer be happy with the results of this project. The company was very supportive of Tom and provided a dedicated team and a large lab where the team could work together. The project had some technical challenges; in principle it was like other projects, but the domain and some of the technology was still experimental. The scaling from Alpha phase to commercial use had many unknowns which could be challenging to the engineers and developers in his team. The project milestones meetings scheduled through the Alpha phase were crucial for keeping the customer satisfied. During these meetings, the team demoed what they had accomplished before moving forward. Tom was hoping for a better meeting which was coming up very soon. This was the