On occasion, you may be hired to work on a project where either a decision maker or an employee of the decision maker, request (or insist) on skipping a specific step in your project roadmap. I have found that having such individuals sign some variation of the letter below helps to stop this behavior from tanking your project.
“I (insert name & title) have made the official decision to skip (insert step title) in the agreed upon (insert project name) because (insert their reason). I acknowledge that (insert your name or your company’s name) has told me that this decision will have an irreversible adverse impact on the following KPIs (insert project KPIs).
(insert their signature & the date)
(insert your signature & the date)”