Nobody writes about the middle
Month three has no launch, no breakthrough and no photograph worth taking. It is also where the project is actually decided.
By month three there is nothing to show anyone.
The beginning is over and the end is not close enough to see. [PARTICIPANT FIRST NAME] described it as [DESCRIPTION IN THEIR WORDS], which is the most accurate account of month three anybody in [COHORT NAME] gave us.
The part that does not photograph
[WHAT THE WORK ACTUALLY LOOKED LIKE — the unglamorous specifics. Hours, repetition, the same problem four times.]
There is no content in this. It is the reason most people quit here, and the reason the ones who do not quit here tend to finish.
What we changed
[WHAT WAS ADJUSTED — scope cut, cadence changed, expectation reset.]
We are not precious about the original plan. The plan was made by somebody who had not started yet, and that person did not know what they were talking about.
[PULL QUOTE.]
Where it left them
[STATE AT END OF MONTH THREE.]