Designing in the Dark: A Project Manager’s Memoir of Building a Racial Reporting Hotline

What happens when the mission is clear—but the solution isn’t?In this episode of Memoirs of a Project Manager, Devon Williams reflects on leading a policy-mandated project to build a racial incident reporting hotline for New Mexico schools while navigating ambiguity, unfinished requirements, and real human impact.In this episode, you’ll learn:How to move a project forward when requirements aren’t fully definedWhy iterative planning and prototyping matter in high-stakes workHow to navigate vendor relationships when clarity is still emergingWhat “progressive elaboration” looks like in real life—not the textbookHow to design systems responsibly when people, not metrics, are at the centerThis memoir bridges real-world experience with core PMP concepts like progressive elaboration and risk management—offering practical insight for project managers, PMP candidates, and anyone building something meaningful under uncertainty.