If a project is irreparably going to fail, what should the PM do in closing the project? One obvious "todo" item that comes to mind is to carry out a Lessons Learned session and document what went wrong to cause the project to fail. What else should be executed prior to closing a failed project? Are there standard guidelines that a PM should follow in bringing a failed project to closure? Saving Changes...
Edward DanielsProject Manager| IndependentGlen Burnie, Md, United States
As PMs, i think we should be careful of how we say things, if all scenarios point to the fact that a project is irreparably going to fail. We should document and communicate this as early as possible.
As stated by others, different organizations deal with project failures differently. Some for strategic reasons may throw more money at the failing project, fire and hire new resources to move forward or just plain count their losses and shut it down. We have no unilateral power to make this call and should let the appropriate parties call for a termination or whatever they decide.
From there, if it is termination, then we can start shutting things down, reassigning teams, getting lessons learned published and closing the project per organization guidelines. Saving Changes...
Let me start with a personal observation. If you wait until you can tell the project is failing to have a lessons learned session, your project has been failing for a lot longer than you think.
Once the decision has been made to close the project, the PMBOK provides activities that may need to occur in its Closing Process Group. You may not need to perform all of them, but it provides a good reference.
Make sure that your Lessons Learned does not become a document that gets filed and forgotten. Treat the failure as a learning opportunity that can help your organization mature and be more successful. If the failure does not lead to change, then you will continue to fail in other projects. Saving Changes...
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