- claremayell
Can costly project failures be avoided?
Updated: Mar 4, 2021
This week, we've been looking at why projects fail.
It's difficult to define exactly when a project should be considered a failure. Projects are not generally delivered as perfect. Does that mean there is always a degree of failure on completion? Maybe.
Is that acceptable? Probably.
Compromises on delivered projects are sometimes necessary to get them over the line. Areas such as reduced functionality; financial expectations missed; resources over budget; deadlines extended; training reduced.
Project scope can change as it progresses from the original outcomes. Does that make it a failure? Not necessarily. Scope change might be the only way to solve an unexpected problem blocking delivery.
Even a project that is considered a complete failure will normally offer up some gems of learning that can be taken into future projects.
In their blog, Hubstaff consider projects fail for one of 7 reasons: Missing resources: Poor Scope: Project handling; No stakeholder buy-in; Ignoring problems; Bad deadlines; Lack of Communication
In reality lack of delivery on project is probably a combination of all of these.
See the full article here: https://blog.hubstaff.com/project-management-failure/
Measuring the cost implication of a failed or stuck project is an important part of any post project review. We've set up a basic calculator to get you started here: https://www.projectsthatdeliver.com/failing-project-calculator