No PM wants to contemplate project failure, but it’s all too often the result of a project. In fact, more projects fail than succeed, if you believe the statistics. This reality is responsible for the somewhat cynical, jaded view that many executives have for project teams and project managers. However, there are things that you can do to not only avoid failure, but to improve the opinion of executives for those in your position.
The Right Project, the Wrong Business
No matter how well executed your project might be, how within budget you manage to stay and how early you complete the project, if it’s the right project for the wrong business, then it’s nothing more than a waste of time and money. This is particularly evident in the field of IT, where systems and solutions can be implemented that are completely wrong for the company’s needs, but it can also be found in pretty much every other industry as well. It’s vital that fit and function be measured and assessed during the planning and preparation process, well before the project even gets close to going live.
Low Quality Implementation
You might think that project implementation is all in your court – you’re the PM, after all. However, while you do control a number of factors here, there are also many that are out of your hands. Your stakeholders, upper management and even consumers can all have an immediate impact on the implementation of a project, and poor implementation from any one of these outside sources can spell disaster for a project. As the PM, it’s your job to spot these looming disasters and take the appropriate action to head them off. Often, that requires communicating with higher ups and with stakeholders, so that adjustments can be made to the project’s plan, budget or scope and failure can be avoided.
Changing Needs
This is most common with longer-term projects, but it can strike anywhere, at any time. If a business needs change, then chances are good that you might find your project is either now of low value, or irrelevant. Neither case is technically a failure, as the project never officially ended. However, by taking a long, hard look at your project and communicating with other stakeholders, you can determine what changes need to be made in order to increase your project’s relevance and realign with the business’ new needs and goals.
Inflexible
Waterfall project management isn’t the most flexible of methodologies, but there comes a point when it’s simply too rigid, restrictive and confining. When that happens, change is impossible, no matter how necessary. Inflexibility within a project management methodology can lead directly to project failure particularly where scope and budget changes are concerned.
By understanding these causes of project failure, you can guard against them and help ensure that your own project is as successful as possible. However, you must realize that there will be times that the success or failure of your project is completely out of your hands.
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