It is difficult, this is why it required a whole institution. And not just an institution, but with proper mandate as well.
It also can be necessary.
In fact, Fred Brooks in The Mythical Man-Month, specifically in chapters 3 "The Surgical Team" and 4 "Aristocracy, Democracy, and System Design" explains why strong (even, maybe, authoritarian) central planning is imperative for large [software] projects.
Without proper mandate the work would be undermined constantly. Again, with regard to software projects (which with all accustomed with) a "Broken Ownership" article [0] [1] illustrates (among other things) the necessity of the mandate.
All in all, if you've been stripped of the mandate, lacking resources and your project is sabotaged in other ways, you don't need to look too far in the search of why it doesn't go as ...planned.