Completely agree. I initially thought, ok DFS is delayed again -...

Completely agree. I initially thought, ok DFS is delayed again - COO gone. To me, it seemed like someone had to break the news to DD that the DFS will not be in time... and was not good enough = COO you have underperformed, and need to go. Perhaps, he was given several chances, and fell short of the mark resulting in several delays. It's not uncommon for people to tell management - yes yes, its coming, it will be done by x date. And then falling short of the mark. I see project managers do that all the time. But also, could be something completely unrelated.