I have heard it a couple of times: "50% of all projects fail". When I tried to check wheather the statement is true or not however, I was quiet surprised to see that some sources anounced that up to 94% of projects don't achieve their objectives (budget, time and client satisfaction), and 12% of all project "were deemed failure" according to the pulse of profession.
My question is: does anyone know where the 50% number comes from? Is it based in reality or is it more of a saying? Saving Changes...
William M Hayden JrAdjunct Assistant Professor| University at Buffalo, School of Management, Operations Management & StrategyBuffalo, Ny, United States
Re: "To justify that figure, the first question would be what does fail even mean? "
A project, by definition, starts with a contract and documented scope, schedule and budget.
If any one of those requirements are missed, then that project has failed.
From my work in the design and construction industry, I can attest to the fact that no less than 60% of projects fail.
Cheers,
Bill Saving Changes...
George FreemanThought Leader | Author | Architect| Florida, United States
The definition one (usually an executive) assigns to success and failure has been and will continue to be amazingly versatile, as demanded in the surreptitiously published “Book of Accountability Avoidance.”
- Success overstated is often the obfuscation of failure
- When failure is not an option, the definition of success becomes amazingly versatile
In the pursuit of objective success, project managers encounter unknown-knowns, known-unknows, and unknown-unknows, all of which can impact the “objectives of record.” The astute project manager navigates these landmines and routes (if necessary) a new path to success, which may require modifications to understood objectives—Is that success or failure—Success! Saving Changes...
William M Hayden JrAdjunct Assistant Professor| University at Buffalo, School of Management, Operations Management & StrategyBuffalo, Ny, United States
Please read post herein:
"The "Missing Ingredients" in The Education of PMs"
Cheers,
Bill Saving Changes...
Alex MelendezProject Management Consultant| Alex MelendezSpring Hill, TN, United States
The question of project failure rates is decades old and without a definitive answer. Academic and industry research has concluded that a large percentage of all projects, especially complex projects in IT, construction, and other industries, fail to deliver the intended benefits and predicted value. Several responses on this thread have suggested that the poor project success rates are a matter of definition. While that may be true to some extent, the fact remains that project failures in both the private and public sectors are excessive. The results of project failure research vary, however, the Standish Group's Chaos Report is viewed as a respected benchmark for those who may want to read more. For those in the public sector, you may be interested in reading Unlocking the Potential of Public-sector IT Projects. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-sector/our-insights/unlocking-the-potential-of-public-sector-it-projects
As a PMP and IT industry professional who is researching project failures as a doctoral dissertation topic, the academic and industry literature overwhelmingly supports the fact that too many projects fail and the cost of these failures has devastating consequences. In my opinion, as project management professionals, our focus should not be on understanding HOW MANY projects fail but rather, on understanding WHY projects fail. Then we can truly make improvements to reduce the failure rate, regardless of what it is. Saving Changes...
George FreemanThought Leader | Author | Architect| Florida, United States
Challenge-based thoughts to consider:
- Are failures (of all definitions) occurring due to: The lack of “good project management practices” or the fact that “good project management practices were followed when creative contextually appropriate non-standard measures were needed”?
- Is it the definition/re-definition of success or the definition/re-definition of failure that drives the opinions and conversations surrounding these statistics?
- If project success factors are genuinely in the percentage brackets indicated for a given sector/organization, why would organizations keep returning to the “poisoned well” only to repeat the pattern which, by generalized statistics, has remained relatively static over the decades?
- What is the inherent motivation behind an executive to state given failure or success rates for their organization and/or from their experience?
I’ve never met a project that “fired on all cylinders without a miss” during its lifecycle. I’ve also not met a project that didn’t have its “naysayers.” After all, project managers are in the business of change, and change is not always well received. So, is this a “grain of salt” issue, or is the project management profession missing the mark? Saving Changes...
Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
The 2024 PMI Pulse report offers a 73,8% project performance rate across all industries/approaches. Which is better than 50%.
"Project performance is calculated as the mean percentage of an organization's completed projects that met business goals, as reported by the respondents in the survey."
I agree with others, especially George, here who say that success is ambiguous. And I would add the idea that success is floating, not fixed at the beginning but determined at various points in the project lifecycle, even long after the project has ended (examples: Sydney opera, Hamburg philharmony, Edinburgh parliament, and Olympic games)
Saving Changes...
Peter RapinSubject Matter Expect; Project Delivery| Independent ConsultantOntario, Canada
May I suggest that the reason for reported failure is two fold: 1) using cost and duration estimates to set effort constraints rather than value at completion, and 2) misunderstanding of risk management and tolerance. 1) the initial and ongoing cost and time estimates have little to do with the actual value of the finished product. They are a look into the future based on past performance - mostly crystal ball gazing. The initial business case may have looked at the value of the proposed project - what it means to the user - but this is lost or hidden. Thus, ultimately projects are considered successful in terms of value even when over budget and time, yet may be reported as partial, or even total, failure as exceeding cost and time constraints. 2) It is rare that the project owner expects 100% success when going in and most projects are approved if the expectation of success is within the owner's tolerance which may well be within 70 or 80%, sometimes even 50%. If your tolerance level is 70% and your success rate is 70% then you achieve 100% of your expectations.
Conceiving and delivering projects is a risky. 50 to 70% success rate isn't so bad. Saving Changes...
Statistics may vary a lot, considering a multitude of factors like the area of knowledge of the project, project conditions, metrics that are included, the project management maturity of the organization, etc.
Even similar projects of the same area of knowledge, developed in different countries, can have different results, due to political, ambiental, and legal conditions.
So we can't have a generalized statistic saying 50% of projects fail unless this is a concrete study that has been developed with very specific conditions and definitions. Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
I am really exhausted on reading "project fails" without a explicit mention about what it does mean in the context on the project. Which are the goals of the project? With that you can determine if the project fails or not. Saving Changes...
I really question the statement that "50% of projects fail". That said, to AVOID project failure, when forming your project, make sure to define success, or key objectives of the project in very specific real terms. Get stakeholder approval (sponsor), and share these key objectives with all key stakeholders and all project team members to ensure everyone is laser focused on achieving those outcomes. This way, if someone says "well you didn't deliver xyz..." then you can refer to your desired, specific outcomes and say "Well, we did not plan to deliver xyx". Saving Changes...
