Six common reasons of why projects fail
To be able to understand project delivery it is important to understand one or two reasons why projects fail. From experience having being commissioned to troubleshoot projects and recommending turnaround strategies here are my top six.
1. Failure to capture and agree business case requirements, therefore not understanding the full set of project deliverables and project objectives.
2. The knock-on effect of misunderstanding what the project business case is meant to deliver leads to poor planning with the plan not reflecting the business case expected outcomes. Plans are nothing but planning is everything. A failure at this early stage will most likely result in the project plagued by mounting issues because not only will planning be incomplete, but also the project will generate more inherent issues and risks. To mitigate the risk and resolve issues will put pressure on the change management process to overcome the deficiencies of planning leading to additional costs and added project complexity.
3. A lack of documentation defining the scope and detail of key deliverables. Documents are key to understanding the what, how, when, who, and precise details in design. Without them a Project Manager will not be able to know the true scope of the project therefore what timescales it will take to complete or indeed any cost estimations.
4. Implementation of inadequate project controls and process. There is no upfront agreement of a formal Project Management Framework. This leads to inadequate management of issues, risks and especially project change. Not working to a recognised methodology presents fundamental problems to project communication, definition, scope and always will lead to project failure.
5. Absence to formulate or communicate roles and responsibilities project stakeholders, customer/supplier / 3rd parties make for unclear and uncertainty of who owns delivery of what and when? This confusion creates alienation between the stakeholders and for the Project Manager great difficulty in planning for and tracking the project.
6. Lack of an effective communication and reporting framework leading to stakeholder uncertainty and lack of ownership responsibility for delivery of key parts of the project. There is a truism with projects and that is communicate, communicate, and to make sure, communicate again. This is the life blood of a project in reporting and tracking status sufficient that all stakeholders have confidence that they understand the project and their role in it.
And the list could go on. The key messages here are probably obvious but experience is that the obvious is missed on so many occasions.
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About The Author
Mike Staves is author of this article on PMO Services. Find more information about Technical Change here.
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Article URL Six common reasons of why projects fail.
