To Err Is Human; To Recover From A Failed Project Is Divine

  Lessons Learned   PM Network  

Blame it on a communication breakdown, poor up-front planning or insufficient resources. Whatever the cause, some projects fail—and the aftermath can have a devastating effect on a project manager’s career. Sometimes all it takes is one effort gone awry to leave project professionals dejected, demoted or even unemployed.

“Failure hits hard and deep when it comes,” warns Simon Robertson, PMP, project manager and trainer at Robertson Consulting, a project management training and consulting firm in Stockbridge, Hampshire, England. “It’s likely to send a project manager into a spiral of depression for a while, certainly the first time. And it can cause a real crisis of confidence, which can be equally debilitating.”

The effects of a botched initiative reverberate far and wide.

A project wildly over-budget and off-schedule affects the entire team. Poor morale, lack of motivation, pessimism and lost admiration for a project leader are all common byproducts of an unsuccessful endeavor.

“A failure can change a team’s perception of you,” says Cristiana Ercoli, an associate at Value Partners Management Consulting in Rome, Italy. “If a project manager has done a good job of creating a strong team, those team members will also feel like part of the failure.”

In addition, a failed project can …

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