Plenty of websites with titles like "Top Ten Reasons Why Projects Fail" and "101 Common Causes - Why Do Projects Fail?" give you excuses for failure, but I feel that none give you the real reason.
Why does the 2014 Standish Group Chaos Report show that 59% of companies say they have the same number, or more, project failures compared with 5 years previously?
The simple answer, is that all of these excuse lists focus on "Why Do Projects Fail?" However, if we change the questions to "Why Do Companies Fail at Projects?" we see that there is one glaring omission from all the lists - a failure to learn from experience.
All good project managers know that they should carry out project reviews and lessons learned exercises but too few actually do this. There are many excuses why not (not enough time, don't want to rock the boat, it wasn't our fault, etc.) but few good reasons why not. If we want to improve our project success rate, we need to take project reviews and lessons learned seriously.
That is my viewpoint, but am I right? Is my experience untypical and do most companies carry out reviews and record and act on lessons learned?
All questions, comments and challenges welcomed.
As an addendum. It is interesting that below the topic entry box there is an option to pick up to three subject areas from a list. The list covers many aspects of project management, but there is no mention of lessons learned or project reviews. Does this indicate the level of importance? Saving Changes...
Elizeu AntonioManager for Network Operations| MSTelcomLuanda, Angola
From my point of view, most projects also fail due to poor knowledge and practices i.e., knowledge and practices not appropriate for the specific project (a given project) and, consequently, the people involved are not able to perform the activities in a way that increases the chance of success of the project. Therefore, the organization will not receive the business value and the expected result satisfactorily. Saving Changes...
Pablo Cesar Garcia BonillaConstruction Contracts Manager / Construction Manager| Green Soul EngineeringSan Jose, Costa Rica
Nov 07, 2018 4:34 AM
Replying to Billy Grierson
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Thanks Pablo. I had a similar comment on the LinkedIn post and I totally agree. I work mainly with innovation projects so it is not surprising that many start and then get killed quickly. What is more worrying is that projects continue long past the point where it was obvious that they were not going to deliver.
Yes Billy, is kind of frustrating that I'm seeing still many projects that started when they sould not, and later aren't killed at the time it becomes evident the projects will not deliver any value. This is not always the case, but still happens, and until they are closed, projects are seen as failed. Saving Changes...
Glenn ChundrlekProject Manager| BelcanLoveland, Oh, United States
Another reason that organizations don't do project review and retrospective is that as project timelines slip time is made up by shortening or sometimes eliminating that step. Also, many business leaders don't see the value in looking back, as they're too focused on moving forward. Finally, I agree with you, Billy, that it's often much easier to ignore what appears to be a minor issue such as identifying areas of improvement. Saving Changes...
The reason so many companies fail at projects is simple, lack of proper planning. They often have senior management setting the scope and timelines without including the project managers or technical leads to tell them if what they want to do is feasible or if they have allowed enough time to get it done. What ends up happening is that Senior Management doesn't understand the technical challenges that exist or how long it will take to overcome them, so they are typically doomed from the start.
It's made worse by the fact that these Senior leaders have already made promises to deliver specific TBOs on specific dates before a technical person or project manager even know what they are expected to deliver and when
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1 reply by Bob Thomas
Nov 07, 2018 11:59 AM
Bob Thomas
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These are the exact reasons I've encountered in software projects. There's trade show in December, so that's the date. A few months before the show, the business changes priorities and Development has to cope. Can't change the date of the trade show, can't add team members at this late date, so we work extra hours. Cut corners and keep your fingers crossed that the customers don't see the bugs when Sales does demos. Remove bugs after the trade show and repeat the process next year.....
Yes, I also reckon project reviews and lessons learned are top elements to ensure projects start on the right note. Effective organizational analysis of internal and external environments will get projects to start on the right track too. Thank you for sharing, Billy. Saving Changes...
The reason so many companies fail at projects is simple, lack of proper planning. They often have senior management setting the scope and timelines without including the project managers or technical leads to tell them if what they want to do is feasible or if they have allowed enough time to get it done. What ends up happening is that Senior Management doesn't understand the technical challenges that exist or how long it will take to overcome them, so they are typically doomed from the start.
It's made worse by the fact that these Senior leaders have already made promises to deliver specific TBOs on specific dates before a technical person or project manager even know what they are expected to deliver and when
These are the exact reasons I've encountered in software projects. There's trade show in December, so that's the date. A few months before the show, the business changes priorities and Development has to cope. Can't change the date of the trade show, can't add team members at this late date, so we work extra hours. Cut corners and keep your fingers crossed that the customers don't see the bugs when Sales does demos. Remove bugs after the trade show and repeat the process next year..... Saving Changes...
John KastlerPrincipal Project Manager| National GridCicero, Ny, United States
I agree Billy. One of the contributors I think is the political factor. The team assessing are not able to say the failure is an organizational failure. As you indicated, not enough executive support and/or poor decision making by the executive steering committee can kill a project as easy as anything else. I also agree with Keith. We aren't able to truly learn from these past lessons if we don't have good tools and if we don't use the tools we have. I haven't seen a really good tool yet. I am not sure it is possible to create one. Saving Changes...
Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
PMI's Pulse of the Profession includes a metric for project success. For 'Champion' organizations, the success rate is up to 92%, overall success rates (money lost on projects) have improved since 2013 by 27%.
https://www.pmi.org/learning/thought-leade...profession-2018
Many thanks for the comments,Thomas, and for the links. Your article is excellent and says a lot of what I had to drop out because of the limitations of LinkedIn post length. I've downloaded that Pulse of the Profession. It also looks very interesting. I've got a two hour train journey coming up, so that will give me time to read it properly. Many thanks again.
Saving Changes...
Billy GriersonDirector| Perth InnovationPerth, United Kingdom
Nov 07, 2018 1:22 PM
Replying to Thomas Walenta
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PMI's Pulse of the Profession includes a metric for project success. For 'Champion' organizations, the success rate is up to 92%, overall success rates (money lost on projects) have improved since 2013 by 27%.
https://www.pmi.org/learning/thought-leade...profession-2018
Many thanks for the comments,Thomas, and for the links. Your article is excellent and says a lot of what I had to drop out because of the limitations of LinkedIn post length. I've downloaded that Pulse of the Profession. It also looks very interesting. I've got a two hour train journey coming up, so that will give me time to read it properly. Many thanks again. Saving Changes...
