Hitting the Target

Known globally as The Risk Doctor, David has been working in risk management for about 30 years. He has worked in 48 countries on every continent except the Antarctic (too cold!), with clients in most industries.

  Change Management   Requirements Management   ProjectsAtWork  

Not every project failure is the result of inadequate performance by the project team. Sometimes the fault lies outside the project, with misplaced or moving targets. But if we want more successful projects, there are some simple techniques we can use to ensure that we hit the target first time, every time.

Projects are risky undertakings. This is because they are usually unique and complex, based on assumptions and constraints, with a range of stakeholders, and dependent on the performance of people. Given these tough challenges, it is not surprising that some projects fail. How are we doing?

The Standish Group have been monitoring project performance since 1994, to see how many projects succeed, how many fail, and how many miss at least one important goal (these projects are called “challenged”). Their first set of data revealed a worrying situation, with only 16 percent of projects succeeding, 31 percent being complete failures, and the remaining 53 percent being challenged. The most recent results are better, but not by much. In 2009 there were 32 percent successful projects, 24 percent failures and 44 percent challenged.

It seems that most projects are continuing to miss the target, either completely or in at least one important aspect. Project management claims to be a profession, with established standards, tools, techniques …

Please log in or sign up below to read the rest of the article.