Project Management

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Real life stories of failures in projects and reasons?

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Maria Fawakhiri Solna, Alberta, Sweden
Hi all,

Wondering if anyone knows some sources I could use to read about real life projects, which had some issues/fails, and if possible where those fails/issues are discussed and the lessons learned/approach to how they could have been avoided is discussed? Thanks!
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Rami Kaibni
Community Champion
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten Associates New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Maria, Harvard Business Review (https://hbr.org) have some business project failures and leadership mistakes, often with breakdowns of what went wrong.
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Kiron Bondale Retired | Mentor| Retired Welland, Ontario, Canada
Maria -

Would suggest reading Dr. Bent Flyvbjerg's book How Big Things Get Done as it does cover a number of megaproject failures.

Kiron
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Sandeep Damodaran Production Engineer| Metito Overseas Limited Dubai, DU, United Arab Emirates

Hi Maria,
I’d also recommend “Black Box Thinking” by Matthew Syed—it explores how industries like aviation and healthcare turn failures into learning loops.



From my own experience, one project involving a new racking system faced delays due to unexpected EHS permitting issues. We underestimated the local authority approval timelines. The lesson: never skip a thorough stakeholder and regulatory analysis in the initiation phase.
Since then, I’ve used tools like SIPOC early on to map out key dependencies.
Looking forward to hearing more real-world stories from others.

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Pavan Maddi
Community Champion
Buona Vista, Singapore

Each offers key lessons in planning, communication, and risk. Denver Airport’s baggage system (poor planning), NASA’s Mars Orbiter (unit mismatch), FBI’s Virtual Case File (scope creep), and Berlin Airport (delays, poor governance).

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