Frank WintersPhotographer and ConservationistSandwich, Ma, United States
In your experience, what are the primary causes of project failure? I have my personal top ten list, what's yours? In particular, what can be done to improve the abysmal success rate of IT projects? If we solve this conundrum, let's move on to world peace! Saving Changes...
Dear Frank,
Right now I am in a situation which you could say is a classic example of the pitfalls mentioned in your article. I have been fighting it out for the last 6 months and have become a bit tired of people with very myopic attitudes.
From my experience I can say that reasons for failure of projects are many and interrelated. In any organisation, good teamwork provides good results, similarly bad team interaction does the opposite - failure.
Primarily, it is the honesty of key decision making people and their understanding of their responsibilities is what makes the diffirence. If the manager in charge of getting business is only focued on pegging up his own targets without considering whether it is possible to deliver the contract within the stipulated time and cost, then the company is looking for trouble. Similarly the management takes a myopic view and thinks the PM is paranoid and expects him to deliver any which way he can. If not, then the cave-man awakes. I think only if all concerned come together, take a holistic view and work out a practical solution, then only can we expect to reach a 95% confidence.
Regards
Amitava Saving Changes...
Frank WintersPhotographer and ConservationistSandwich, Ma, United States
Dear Amitava,
Thanks for posting your thoughts.
When projects are managed as if they are of secondary importance, trouble follows. If selling the project is considered more important than actually having the ability to deliver, trouble follows.
Some organizations do have a "cave-man" culture using the law of the jungle to rule. I hope that's not your situation but it sounds like it might be. If so you must continue to maintain your professionalism, morale and personal ethics. Don't let the cave-people get you down!
Hi,
Came across this piece couple of years back but didn't understand fully. Well, I do now!
The salesman and the system analyst took off to spend a weekend in the forest, hunting bear. They'd rented a cabin, and, when they got there, took their backpacks off and put them inside. At which point the salesman turned to his friend, and said, "You unpack while I go and find us a bear."
Puzzled, the analyst finished unpacking and then went and sat down on the porch. Soon he could hear rustling noises in the forest. The noises got nearer -- and louder -- and suddenly there was the salesman, running like hell across the clearing toward the cabin, pursued by one of the largest and most ferocious grizzly bears the analyst had ever seen.
"Open the door!", screamed the salesman.
The analyst whipped open the door, and the salesman ran to the door, suddenly stopped, and stepped aside. The bear, unable to stop, continued through the door and into the cabin. The salesman slammed the door closed and grinned at his friend. "Got him!", he exclaimed, "now, you skin this
one and I'll go rustle us up another!"
- Linux Fortune
Saving Changes...
Imho projects fail because of lack of executive sponsorship and misaligned priorities. For projects to succeed, they must have a sponsor with significant influence, and all parties involved must agree to the priority of the project. Missing a sponsor - go find one & get his/her endorsement. Misaligned priorities? Go out there and sell your project to all the engaged parties so they know it is coming and what your expectations are. Saving Changes...
Frank WintersPhotographer and ConservationistSandwich, Ma, United States
Brian,
I agree. Many failed projects did so because nobody really cared about the outcome or because the effort was not producing what the organization needed.
I like your advice to PM's don't bitch about no sponsor -- Go Get One! Misaligned? Get in alignment -- one way or the other!
I think there's always another factor in failed projects, a factor I call The Prime Project Failure Factor: Choosing to proceed with a doomed project. Saving Changes...
Frank WintersPhotographer and ConservationistSandwich, Ma, United States
Dale,
Wow -- a profound thought on a hot (in Massachusetts) Wednesday!
Of course if you cancel a project two days before the promised completion date -- no cigar.
But if you are in the definition stages and find that you have a born loser on your hands -- Invoking The Prime Factor should be considered.
It is interesting to highlight the gaps in failing projects!First of all projects fail due to lack of clear planning and the fortitude to implement and stick to the milestones planned. It depends on the organising capability and the risk taking ability of the project managers to get things turned around their way.Look, fingers will point at you when u fail!!! It is a question of having clear priorities and managing situations. Saving Changes...
In my view, success is an act of balance (optimization) between producing maximum tangible results (i.e. lowering the costs, execution time, expediting delivery schedule, improving quality of deliverable, ...) while satisfying the interests and expectations of the project stakeholders, meeting contractual obligations and finally, maintaining a high statisfaction level among the project team both at the personal and professional levels.
Looking closer at this definition, we can see the interdependencies among all these factors affecting the overall success or failure of the project.
This is an excellent topic, calling for additional comments that will follow on later.
Another addition at this stage related to the project management framework as articulated by Millennia-Vision Consulting.
This framework (specially adequate for large/complex projects) places project management practice at the center of the framework augmented by a single point of contact (SPOC) for all communications with the project owner/sponsor (client), a vendor/subcontractor coordinator for supervising/coordinating the suppliers deliverables within the overall project framework. Then there is the overall solution architect responsible for the integration & homogenoity of the disparse pieces into a well-architedted solution that was sold to the client. and finally there is the quality assurance function in charge of ensuring the deliverable is within contractual obligations / best practices to the satisfaction of the client's internal/external auditors.
The core of the framework (i.e. the project management function itself) is the engine and gyro of the whole system. It is the hub of the project management activities as we know them.
A one page slide showing this framework is available on request.
Saving Changes...
