The initiative was running. The team had it. But the client kept extending and I kept saying yes, partly because the revenue was good, partly because I liked the people. By month four of the extension, I was adding marginal value and I knew it. The team was starting to defer to me on things they should have owned.
Takeaway
My whole model is "work yourself out of a job." When I violate it, the client suffers, even if they don't realize it yet. Dependency is comfortable but corrosive. Now I have a hard rule: at the end of every month, I ask myself whether the team would be meaningfully worse off without me. If the answer is no, it's time to have the conversation.