Dolphins and Delivery

October 15, 2026

How the dolphins delivered a lesson.

Last week I swam with dolphins in Tenerife.

I wasn’t expecting a business lesson.

I was expecting sunburn.

But something happened out there that changed how I think about delivery forever.

The pod didn’t have a Gantt chart.

They didn’t have a RAID log.

They didn’t have a 47-slide steering deck nobody read.

They just… moved. Together. As one.

And then it hit me.

• They swim in pods, not silos.
• They communicate constantly, not quarterly.
• They surface for air. (When did YOU last surface for air?)
• They don’t chase every fish. They chase the RIGHT fish.

Let that sink in.

Our guide, a man named Carlos who has probably never opened Jira, said something I’ll carry for the rest of my career:

“They only hunt what they can eat.”

I nearly cried. In the water. Which is ironic.

Because how many of us are hunting things we can’t eat?

How many roadmaps are full of fish nobody is hungry for?

I came home and cancelled three workstreams on the Monday. My PMO director asked me why.

I said: “Ask the dolphins, Susan.”