They're afraid to sound like they're complaining. They assume there's no budget. They're watching their teams burn out in silence.
The fears that keep them from raising the issue
"If I tell my VP we're spending too much time on slides, they'll think I can't manage my team's workload."
The irony: Managing workload includes eliminating unnecessary work.
"I've been told we have no budget for new tools. Why bother asking for something I know will get rejected?"
The irony: The budget exists—it's just hidden in labor costs.
"Everyone does it this way. If there was a better solution, we'd already be using it."
The irony: Most organizations don't know what they don't know.
"Sure, we lose some time to slides, but it's not worth escalating. There are bigger problems."
The irony: $463K/year IS one of your bigger problems.
They spend 5+ hours every week consolidating PM reports into presentations for you. That's work they don't talk about because it happens at home.
5 hrs/week × 2 Directors = 520 hrs/yearEach PM spends 4 hours every week building status slides. They've normalized it, but their families haven't.
4 hrs/week × 10 PMs = 2,080 hrs/yearThe best people are quietly looking elsewhere. The ones who stay are disengaging. You won't see it until they leave.
Replacement cost: $150K+ per PMGive them the tool. Watch the relief.
They can't ask for this themselves. But you can give it to them. And they'll remember who did.
Give Your Team SlideStrike