The Top Ten Reasons Projects Fail (Part 5)
Frank Winters has more than 30 years of consulting and Information Technology experience serving as a project/program manager, consultant and IT service industry executive.
Funding in a situation like this is often based on a set of undocumented assumptions regarding what the project will produce. Next, a project manager is assigned and--as often as not--told when the first release of the new system is expected.
Sounds like a recipe for disaster, and it is. The ambiguity of the requirements in a scenario like this is compounded by the almost certainly unrealistic, mandated delivery date. Ambiguity is like corrosion in projects, eating away at the team's credibility and at the probability of having a successful outcome. Project failure is a forgone conclusion. Or is it? What can and should be done?
Funding is the life blood of projects
Let's look on the bright side. The scenario outlined above has one or two silver linings:
- Initial funding is approved
- There is a project with a purpose, albeit a vague one
- Initial funding is approved!
What is missing from this happy picture is clear, mutually agreed direction and the means to measure the degree of project success. If this is not corrected, there is a …
Please log in or sign up below to read the rest of the article.
