Strategic Project Management

Over the weekend, I read a blog post by Shim Marom, author of the quantumleap blog, titled Projects Failure Rate—The Conventional Wisdom is Wrong! Shim suggests that "...expert reports, published in the last 10-15 years, all of which suggesting that the number of projects failed to meet some sort of criteria is nearing 70%! Got that? 7 out of every 10 projects are a failure..."

Marom suggests that reports like the Chaos Report, OASIG survey, KMPG Canada Survey, the Conference Board Survey, Robbins-Gioia Survey and Dr. Dobb's Journal misrepresent the actual condition of projects. His contention, which I think I agree with, is that we need to come to clearer terms about what project "success" actually means. Although I believe that whether or not a project delivers the specified requirements, is completed on time and on budget are an indication of whether or not a project is successful, I don't think they are only measures of success. In fact, I believe they are an incomplete measure of success.

In my opinion, I'm convinced that the real measure of successful is whether or not the project provides business value to the organization. Now, the definition of value could be measured differently from organization to organization. For some organizations, the success of a project might be measured in terms of ROI gained by income earned with the project, for others it might be money saved or even an increase in the ability to monitor and track processes. (For example, government projects might be less concerned with ROI than they are with governance.)

Whatever business value the project is supposed to provide should be identified and agreed upon before the project begins. If the project fails to provide the identified value, the project failed. This type of measure allows for scope and possible time-line changes, provide they do not negatively impact the projects ability to provide the specified value.

Project leaders that focus on providing business value have a clear measure of whether or not their projects are successful (and this applies to projects that are IT-related and those that are not). As project leaders, we need to start thinking more in terms of business value if we hope to have a lasting and productive project environment. In that sense, Marom is absolutely right, the conventional wisdom is wrong. Let's give the "experts" something else to measure besides time-lines, specifications and budgets.
 

When I was a kid, whenever my sister and I would argue, my mother would say, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." Although that was probably good advice for keeping two young siblings from killing each other, I wonder if that's the best way to keep projects on track.

Sometimes there are things that need to be said, even if they're painful to hear.

One of my favorite blogs to read is The Critical Path by Derek Huether. Derek provides a great perspective and is an interesting and informative writer. In his blog yesterday he shared that he would be writing an article for PM Network magazine, to which he was asked not to write anything about the current program he is advising. "I was asked not to write anything disparaging about the program I'm advising," he said. "I was told it would be bad if anything I said or wrote cast an unfavorable light on the project."

Like Derek, I think we need to honestly ask ourselves, "How many of you out there in the industry have perfect projects, where nothing goes wrong?"

I have to admit, that I can't even think of the last project that I was a part of that didn't at least have a hic-up or two. Adapting to challenges and overcoming obstacles is what managing projects is all about. With that in mind, Derek has decided to call his current program, "Project Voldemort," the project "that-must-not-be-named." It made me smile—and frown.

Until organizations are willing to face the challenges (and warts) of their projects and allow project leaders to acknowledge what's broken and work to fix it, we will continue to have failed projects and shot messengers. In the trenches, at the project level, I think we all realize that perfect projects just don't exist. What's more, I don't think that negatively reflects on project teams. I think it's the nature of the beast. In my opinion, every organization has to deal with a "Project Voldemort" or two. However, the more the project "that-must-not-be-named" stays in the shadows, the more powerful and dangerous it becomes.

Thanks for the great post Derek. So if the project is "Voldemort" what does that make you?