The Single Biggest Reason Why Projects Fail
- Nov 18, 2024
- 3 min read
Fergus O'Connell is one of the world’s leading authorities on project management and getting things done. He is the author of eight novels and sixteen business books, including Simply Brilliant, a book about common sense and how to use a power you already have.
In my experience, the single biggest reason projects fail is that they were never actually possible in the first place.
Here’s what happens with almost every project:
The project is given to you, the Project Manager. The project pretty much always comes with some ‘baggage.’ The stakeholders want it done by a certain date, for a certain budget, without hiring any more people, or similar.
Then, the project manager starts executing the organisation’s project management methodology. The project management methodology is a formal or sometimes not-so-formal way that projects are meant to be carried out in that organisation.
But there’s a good chance you’re already in trouble.
When you’re given the project and if you immediately launch into your methodology, then, as far as the stakeholders are concerned:
The project is underway, i.e.
You’ve accepted the project can be done, i.e.
You’ve accepted their ‘baggage.’
In other words, you’ve agreed to deliver it by that date, or for that budget, or whatever.
You haven’t said that you can, of course not. You wouldn’t be that stupid. However, from the stakeholders' point of view, your acceptance is implied by the methodology being applied. Yes, there are go/no-go points in your methodology, but stakeholders seem to forget about these once the project is underway conveniently. If and when the stakeholders are pulled up at one of these go/no-go points, the almost inevitable result is ‘a nasty surprise’ or ‘bad news’ or ‘a slip’.
So, if you want to avoid falling into this trap, you need to add a first step to your methodology, where you make a first-cut attempt to determine if the baggage can be delivered or not.
Instead of saying ‘Sure’ and launching into your project management methodology, you need to say, ‘I’ll have a look at it.’ Only after you’ve established that the project, or a version of it, is doable does it make any sense to start applying your project management methodology. I know people will say that this isn’t possible until part way through the application of the methodology. But believe me, it is. I’ve been doing it since 1991.
Read more from Fergus O'Connell
Fergus O'Connell, Novelist, Project Manager, Teacher, Speaker
Fergus O'Connell is one of the world’s leading authorities on project management and getting things done. He is the author of eight novels and sixteen business books, including Simply Brilliant, a book about common sense and how to use a power you already have.
He founded his first project management company - ETP - in 1991. His disruptive, common-sense project management method, The Ten Steps, has influenced a generation of project managers. In 2003, this method was used to plan and execute the Special Olympics World Games, the world’s biggest sporting event that year. Fergus’ new company, Fast Projects, is again disrupting the project management space by focusing on speeding up projects / shortening time to market.
