- STATUS
- GREEN
- REALITY
- PENDING VERIFICATIONAMBER · BUFFER 3 OF 9 DAYS
Green is where the lying happens.
Every project has three versions: the plan, the one described in meetings, and the one actually happening. Red, Amber, Liar is a field guide to the distance between them, plus a club of PMs who close it.
The Club app · Honest RAG check
The colour is computed. Not negotiated.
Status comes from evidence: buffer left, decisions waiting, dependencies with no date. To call it Green anyway, you write down why.
Honest RAG check
Buffer 9 of 9 days left
One idea, three ways in
Read it. Use it. Follow it.
The Book
A field guide to projects, politics and the people who break both.
The Club app
Plan, act early, track leave and money, and find your people. Free core, built for PMs.
Field Notes & Reels
One honest note every Monday. Thirty-second doses on Instagram and YouTube.
Not just a book
A field kit for the job nobody sees.
Every tool traces back to a chapter. No Earned Value formulas. Just the instincts nobody warned you about.
The Project Zoo · Ch 8
You deal with them 24 hours a day.
Name the pattern, never the person.
Estimate ladder
“Maybe, assuming” survives all the way to the slide.
Leave radar
Ask a week early. Not two days late.
Moon and Back
Three case files. Green, then Amber, then Red.
WK 0 ········· WK 8 ········· GO-LIVE
Decision log
12 days“A decision that has been sitting unanswered for twelve days is called ‘under discussion.’”
Try This Monday
Weekly“Find one date in your plan that began life as ‘roughly.’”
From the Zoo
Recognise anyone?
Field Notes · every Monday
What is actually happening?
Reels & videos
Thirty-second doses.
Status translator
What did they actually mean?
None of these phrases are necessarily lies. That is what makes them dangerous.
Reported
Pick a phrase. Reality will be along shortly.
The book · RAG / 001
red, amber, liar
A field guide to projects, politics, and the people who break both.
Amazon, worldwide
Amazon, worldwide
Read on any device. No PDF, by design.
Before we begin
Every project has at least three versions.
- 01 · The plan
There is the version in the plan.
- 02 · The meeting
There is the version people describe in meetings.
- 03 · The reality
And there is the version actually happening.
Green is socially comfortable. Amber is a conversation. Red is a confession.
Inside
Seven parts. Fifty-three chapters. Three case files.
What this book won’t do
No Earned Value formulas. No Schedule Performance Index. No tool recommendations with a shelf life. Just the instincts nobody warned you about.
Questions
Why is there no PDF?
Because the book would be shared within the hour. The online edition opens in a protected reader on any device, with your copy watermarked to you. Print editions come from Amazon.
When does it launch?
It’s being written now. Subscribe and you’ll hear first, along with a Monday note from the book while you wait.
Is it a certification guide?
No. It’s what the certification didn’t cover: the people, the politics, and the distance between the status slide and the project.
Does the app come with the book?
The Club app has a free core. Book buyers will get extras. The details come with launch.
Coming soon · iOS & Android
The book’s playbooks, in your pocket.
Plan the work, act before the deadline does, keep an eye on leave and money, and protect your own day. Plus a club of PMs who have seen it all before.
Free vs Club
Free to start. Club when you run more than one fire.
Free core
Everything you need on Monday.
- Task planner for one project
- Proactiveness corner: early nudges
- Leave tracker for your team
- Club space: questions, clubs, events
- Weekly “Try This Monday” prompt
Club
For the PM who runs more than one fire.
- Unlimited projects
- Gantt + SteerCo export (PPTX, PDF)
- AI plan maker by project type
- Finance tracking & forecasts
- Personal time & habit tracker
- Members-only events with the author
PRICING ANNOUNCED AT LAUNCH
Part II · Chapter 8
Please don’t feed the stakeholders.
Twenty-four characters you deal with as a PM, twenty-four hours a day. Name the pattern, adapt the style, hold the standard, and escalate the impact, never the personality.
Field Notes
What is actually happening?
One note every Monday, straight from the book and the field. Each ends with something to try this week.
Reels & videos
The book, in thirty-second doses.
About the author
Sanjay Menon
Sanjay Menon is professionally incapable of seeing something unnecessarily complicated without wondering why everyone has agreed to live with it. Somewhere between impossible deadlines, disappearing owners, heroic status updates and meetings that survived long after their purpose died, sarcasm became less of a personality trait and more of a survival strategy.
Some parts of project management deserved a field guide rather than another textbook. Red, Amber, Liar is that field guide.
Why this book
“The distance between reported reality and actual reality will survive every tool change. Someone will still need to find it. Someone will still need to name it.”