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William M Hayden Jr Adjunct Assistant Professor| University at Buffalo, School of Management, Operations Management & Strategy Buffalo, Ny, United States

“During an average week, only 54% of planned work is completed on time. As a result, most capital projects are delivered late… and over budget.”

Sam Spata, AIA – Design Manager, Exyte

Q. What percent of the above failure(s) (100%) are attributable to:

a. People;

b. Process;

c. Technology; and,

d. Leadership

Cheers,

Bill

Posted: Mar 1, 2024 10:03 AM (Updated by moderator: Mar 5, 2024 9:04 AM)

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Rami Kaibni

Community Champion

Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten Associates New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada

Bill, I am not sure I agree with the statement and the statstics presented. Do you have a reliable resource for those?

If globally, during an average week, only 54% of planned work is completed on time, then this will be a disaster. I know this is not the case on our projects, and this is why I am interested to know how the author arrived at this conclusion and percentage.

On another note, failure is almost never attibutable 100% to one factor. Its normally a combination of factors between people, processes and leadership!

Posted: Mar 5, 2024 10:41 AM

Keith Novak Tukwila, Wa, United States

I might look at it a bit differently than Rami. For the sake of argument, assuming that the 54% number is valid, and not so many projects are complete disasters, that would mean either that the planned work lags the plan slightly, or other necessary work is getting done during the average week that contributes to later due dates.

We often set stretch goals in large capital projects, and finish somewhat late, because even if you don't meet all the goals you are still likely to perform better than if you set very easy goals. Missing the goal a little might be normal, but missing it by 146% is not.

Posted: Mar 5, 2024 12:09 PM

Kiron Bondale Retired | Mentor| Retired Welland, Ontario, Canada

And looking at it different than Rami & Keith, if we assume a normal distribution for the activities in question, then up to 50% would be late but up to 50% would be early and a mix of both might still result in a milestone date being met.

And the causes for the delays and the relative contribution of each will vary widely by industry, location and company.

My personal experience has been that leadership failure in creating a system where project delivery can flourish is a fairly common contributing factor.

Kiron

Posted: Mar 5, 2024 2:00 PM

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