pitch unfairly

Cheat Codes · Everyday work

The Panama Canal, 1904. Pitched unfairly, 2026.

The dig stays locked until the mosquitoes sign off. Same story, same numbers. Rebuilt the way we'd pitch it today.

Template: Project kickoff

  • 1 locked phase
  • 310 to 18 in Havana
  • Opened Aug. 15, 1914
Play the 2026 deck Read the real story Steal the structure
1904 Project kickoff

The Panama Canal

The dig stays locked until the mosquitoes sign off.

Legend
Original craft
Unfair

The story→12 slides

It's a live deck. Press start, then scroll or use the arrow keys, or play it full screen.

Play the 2026 deck

The Panama Canal's project kickoff, slide by slide

Every slide opens the live deck right where it is.

  1. The Panama Canal deck, slide 1: Sanitation first, then dig. 01Sanitation first, then dig.
  2. The Panama Canal deck, slide 2: One year in, we have fever, panic and no chief engineer. We fix the order. 02One year in, we have fever, panic and no chief engineer. We fix the order.
  3. The Panama Canal deck, slide 3: The French spent eight years and an estimated 22,000 lives. Their ledger is our checklist. 03The French spent eight years and an estimated 22,000 lives. Their ledger is our checklist.
  4. The Panama Canal deck, slide 4: Done means a ship crosses ocean to ocean. 04Done means a ship crosses ocean to ocean.
  5. The Panama Canal deck, slide 5: We build everything a canal needs before the big cut. 05We build everything a canal needs before the big cut.
  6. The Panama Canal deck, slide 6: In Havana, Gorgas went after the mosquito, and the fever went with it. 06In Havana, Gorgas went after the mosquito, and the fever went with it.
  7. The Panama Canal deck, slide 7: The dig stays locked until sanitation and the railway sign off. 07The dig stays locked until sanitation and the railway sign off.
  8. The Panama Canal deck, slide 8: Every row has one name accountable. Mosquitoes are Gorgas. 08Every row has one name accountable. Mosquitoes are Gorgas.
  9. The Panama Canal deck, slide 9: Four risks with an owner each. One assumption nobody tested. 09Four risks with an owner each. One assumption nobody tested.
  10. The Panama Canal deck, slide 10: One ledger a week, with three colors that mean one thing each. 10One ledger a week, with three colors that mean one thing each.
  11. The Panama Canal deck, slide 11: Two weeks to start. One decision to ask for. 11Two weeks to start. One decision to ask for.
  12. The Panama Canal deck, slide 12: It opened on August 15, 1914. Thousands never saw it. 12It opened on August 15, 1914. Thousands never saw it.

Then · 1904

How it really went

Read the real storythe story, via Wikipedia (with the Panama Canal Authority and Gorgas's Sanitation in Panama)
  1. 1881 to 1889: the French under de Lesseps dig a sea-level canal; an estimated 22,000 die of disease and accidents
  2. May 15, 1889: the French company goes bankrupt with about two-fifths dug
  3. May 4, 1904: the United States takes over the works, with Dr. William C. Gorgas as chief sanitary officer
  4. Spring 1905: a yellow fever epidemic; senior officials die and panic spreads
  5. June 1905: chief engineer John Findley Wallace resigns
  6. July 1905: John F. Stevens takes over, holds the big dig, and backs Gorgas
  7. He rebuilds the railway and builds housing, water and sewers first
  8. November 1905: the last yellow fever case in Panama City
  9. June 1906: Stevens wins the argument for locks; Congress agrees
  10. April 1907: Stevens resigns; George W. Goethals finishes the job
  11. August 15, 1914: the SS Ancon opens the canal; about 5,600 died in the American era, most of them West Indian workers, many from Barbados

Now · 2026 · 12 slides

What we changed

  • The dig is lockedA phase plan where "Dig at full scale" stays padlocked until Sanitation and Railway both sign off. Reset it and try to start digging early.
  • The French ledger becomes rulesFive crossed-out entries from 1881 to 1889, each one clicked open into what happened and the rule it gave us.
  • Havana is the proofGorgas's own monthly table: 310 yellow fever deaths in 1900, 18 in 1901 once the mosquito work began. Toggle the years and watch the bars fall.
  • Hindsight on the risk registerFlip from the 1905 plan to what happened. Four risks held. One assumption failed, and the deck says so plainly.

Steal the structure

Build your project kickoff like The Panama Canal did.

  1. 01 Cover The project and its one rule of order, in five words.
  2. 02 Why this project Answer first: the situation as it stands and the change you are making.
  3. 03 What failed before The last attempt's record, each failure turned into a rule.
  4. 04 Goal and done One checkable outcome, plus the conditions that make it count.
  5. 05 Scope What is in, and what is out for now, with the reason for each out.
  6. 06 Evidence Proof the approach has worked somewhere else, as a chart.
  7. 07 Plan in phases Phases with owners and gates; later phases stay locked until earlier ones sign off.
  8. 08 Roles A RACI with exactly one accountable name per row.
  9. 09 Risks and assumptions Each risk with an owner and a fix; list the assumptions you have not tested.
  10. 10 Cadence How often you report, to whom, and status colors with fixed meanings.
  11. 11 First two weeks Dated first moves and the one decision you need, with a named decider.

Make yours in ChatGPT

Type your site. We'll write the prompt with The Panama Canal's structure and your brand.

Back to the cheat codes