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	Why Do Projects Fail?

	by Fergus O’Connell

Joe Sanders, Editor of Tri-Spin News, said of the article "When I read this article myself, two points immediately jumped out at me. Firstly it rang true to my own experiences! And secondly, all the project killers ... relate to the MANAGEMENT of the project." Projects fail or go awry because some basic issues aren't taken care of. And if you'd like to know what these issues are, then here are the top ten of them, with the first four certainly being the biggest offenders, and the top one the biggest project killer of all.

THE GOAL OF THE PROJECT ISN'T DEFINED PROPERLY

This has been said so many times, beginning right back in Ancient Rome, that it has become a platitude -- “If you don't know WHERE you're sailing to, then any wind is a fair wind” (Pliny).

CHANGES TO THE GOAL AREN'T CONTROLLED

This is the “moving goal posts” syndrome. The famous project management phrase is “we've ABSORBED that into the schedule.” But nothing can be absorbed into the schedule. If your plan has some contingency in it, then you can appear to absorb unplanned changes -- but what you are actually doing is spending a part of your contingency. If your plan has no contingency in it, then all you are really doing is joining the “it'll be all right on the day” school of project management.

THE PROJECT IT ISN'T RESOURCED AS WAS PLANNED

I've seen projects which were meant to last a year end up lasting four years because of this. It's a dangerous one because the slip is so gradual. Sloppy MONITORING of the plan will make it even more difficult to track. You must allow for people's other commitments when you build your plan around them.

THE PROJECT NO CONTINGENCY

If you plan your project without any contingency, then the only logical conclusion one can come to is that you believe it will turn out EXACTLY like you said. Now, of all the things that might happen, this has to be the least likely. Yet in putting no contingency into the plan, we're saying that this is precisely the thing we expect to happen.

THE PROJECT ISN'T PLANNED PROPERLY

Project planning is the act of CHAINING together all the myriad of little jobs that go to make up the project. A proper plan attempts to do this chaining together as EARLY in the project as possible. If this isn't done, then there are only two other ways the chaining together can happen. The first is that it is done in real time -- this is the fire fighting project manager, where everything is unexpected, a surprise, a crisis. The second is that it is not done at all -- this is the go-with- the-flow, “it'll be all right on the day” approach. We've all seen too often the effects of the last two approaches.

THE PROJECT ISN'T LED PROPERLY

For the project to be successful, all the jobs identified need to be done. One person -- hopefully the PROJECT MANAGER -- has to make sure that this happens. Note, in particular, that this includes jobs which aren't necessarily being done by your people -- i.e. those jobs being done by the customer, other departments, suppliers, subcontractors and so on.

THE EXPECTATIONS OF PARTICIPANTS AREN'T MANAGED

People often say “deadlines are imposed on us.” They thought up something and you didn't tell them it COULDN'T be done? What's more, you agreed to do it for them. Who's at fault here? You, for thinking up the crime -- or me for accepting it? Not all projects -- as they are offered -- are possible, or possible in the requested TIME FRAME. We need to make very clear up front and over the life of the project, what the project participants can expect from the project.

PROGRESS IS NOT MONITORED AND CONTROLLED PROPERLY

The detailed chaining together of jobs is our CHART through the shoals of the project. For us to develop the plan, only to throw it away or DISREGARD it (particularly when pressure comes on) is lunacy -- for which we truly, do deserve to suffer.

PROJECT REPORTING IS INADEQUATE OR NON-EXISTENT

Most status reports are packed full of INCIDENT, but manage to conceal utterly any USEFUL information -- like whether the project is on target or not, or what the current big issues are. Lack of project reporting on its own isn't enough to sink the project, but it certainly doesn't help.

PROBLEMS AREN’T DEALT WITH CORRECTLY

When projects get in to trouble, people believe the problem can be solved by some simple ACTION -- e.g. work harder, extend the deadline, add more resources, etc. In general, it can't. If the project gets into trouble, it's because somebody got the PLANNING wrong. If this happens to you, then what you need to do is to go back and plan it all over again.

SOME SUGGESTIONS

To improve the project management side of your project all you have to do is to have an approach which:

provides the ability to clearly DEFINE the protect goal
provides a CHANGE CONTROL system
provides a way of ensuring that planned resourcing is achieved
provides a way of including CONTINGENCY in the plan
enables upfront plans which connect the jobs in the project
makes it clear that project managers are ACCOUNTABLE
ensures that participant EXPECTATIONS are part of the plan
provides simple and effective monitoring and control methods
provides simple and effective REPORTING mechanisms
looks for problems in the correct place when trouble happens

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