You want to grow this quarter. You’ve got the usual goals—top-line revenue, smoother project execution, better support delivery. But there’s something broken in your org chart that’s killing your progress, and you don’t even see it.

You’re blending projects with support. Stop it.

Here’s the cold truth: projects and service are not the same thing. Trying to treat them like they are is like expecting your ER doctor to perform open-heart surgery between patient check-ins. It doesn’t work. It never will.

Why Your Projects Never Get Done

Let’s say you’ve got a technician. Sharp guy. He’s got a project scheduled—a firewall deployment, maybe an onboarding, maybe a big stack refresh.

Then, ring-ring. CEO on line one. Can’t get into email. Now what about the project? It’s dead.

Support always wins. Always. Why? Because support screams. Projects don’t. Support is urgent. It lights up the phones. Projects? They sit in your PSA collecting dust until someone finally loses it and starts asking why their office move didn’t happen on time.

Why Shared Resources = Project Suicide

If you think your team can “multitask,” let me save you some pain. They can’t.

When you have a tech working tickets and trying to chip away at a project in between, you’re doing both sides a disservice. The project gets short-changed, and the support queue gets erratic. Worse, nobody’s actually accountable for delivering either one well.

Your support team exists to react. Your project team exists to plan and execute. They require entirely different rhythms, mindsets, and leadership. Blending the two is a death spiral.

Support always eats project time. Every single time.

What If You’re a Small MSP?

This isn’t just an enterprise problem. Even if you’re a team of three, you still need to separate support from projects. Maybe you’ve only got one person who can do project work. Fine. Take them off the phones. Put their name on the calendar. Guard their time like it’s mission-critical—because it is.

The first time you give them the headspace to actually focus, they’ll blow your mind with how much work they can get done without interruptions.

Proactive Work? Even More Critical

Here’s where things get even more dangerous. The work that gets hit hardest when you blend teams? Security patching. Backups. Maintenance. Compliance. You know—the things that prevent breaches, lawsuits, and client churn.

These aren’t nice-to-haves. They’re mandatory. And if you think someone is going to properly manage compliance while also fixing a jammed printer, you’re deluding yourself. You need a proactive team. Just like projects, these tasks must be owned by someone else—someone not chasing emergency tickets.

Build the Right Structure or Burn the Business

So what’s the answer?

  • Create two distinct groups: Service and Projects.
  • Do not share resources between them.
  • Assign proactive responsibilities—security, compliance, maintenance—to the projects or proactive team.
  • Shield them from distractions. Protect their calendars like your business depends on it.

Because it does.

If you want to dive deeper into the structure that makes this work, go read Level Up: The Ultimate MSP Road Map for Improving Security Operations and Profitability. It’s not fluff. It’s field-tested, boots-on-the-ground strategy for building a security-first, scale-ready MSP.

Projects matter. Proactive work matters more. Treat them with the respect they deserve—or keep watching your best-laid plans get crushed by broken printers and email resets.