In this episode, I sit down with Sebastian Varela to dig into one of the trickiest parts of project design: alignment. Not the "check the box and move on" kind. The kind where you're trying to balance clear communication across stakeholders with the flexibility teams need to actually get things done on the ground.

Sebastian is the Director of Strategy and Institutional Alignment for the Cities Program at the World Resources Institute (WRI), a global think-do-tank focused on environmental work. His team tackles big issues affecting urban centers around the world — public transportation, climate resilience, public spaces, etc., which means a lot of different stakeholders with a lot of different ideas on how to get things done. The best way I can describe what Sebastian does? We once gave him a poster of himself herding cats up a mountain. He is a master at helping people with different viewpoints come together around an idea.

Key Takeaways from Part 1:

• Alignment isn't a one-time exercise. It takes time, is highly subjective and requires repeats depending on the different people that are in the room at different times.
• Top-down alignment can be "very clear, very specific, simple to understand, easy to communicate" — but that clarity often comes from having fewer voices involved
• When alignment is too tightly held, people on the ground will work around it rather than follow it
• The tension between "easy to share" and "works in context" is one of the core challenges of project design

Want to hear how Sebastian navigates this tension in practice? Subscribe to Project Design: The Good, The Bad, and The Wild so you don't miss Part 2, where we get into how organizational vision can help you find the right balance between clarity and flexibility.