Top 5 Reasons Projects Fail (Part 3)

Is project success or failure solely the responsibility of the Project Manager? In my opinion the answer is NO. This may surprise some but if we don't have involvement, commitment, and bravery by sponsors of the project more than likely a project will fail. Furthermore organizational leadership must create an environment that supports a project environment. 

"Proper scope definition is critical to project success" this is not some quote from a great project manager, rather text that is straight out of the PMBOK.  It Is the responsibility of the project sponsor to set the scope expectations for a project. Driving to fulfillment of expectations is the function of the project manager.  Problems arise when expectations are not clear or informal.  Conversely if expectations and the method of manging them are to complex or rigid it becomes difficult to manage any requests for change.

Failure to set and manage expectations is certainly a major cause of project failure. The practical ones among us know that the reason project management is difficult is that we really need to keep our project artifacts and techniques flexable enough so that we can produce predictable, professional results while at the same time accommodating any necessary change.

No one said project success was easy, what are your thoughts?

Top 5 Reasons Projects Fail

We all know that more projects fail then succeed. There are studies by educational institutions, research organizations, etc. that support this same reality.  The dollar store mentality of cheap and fast is used to often.  Executives that don't hold people accountable for anything but customer satisfaction while ignoring schedule, budget, and quality often will fail in the end.

There are many reasons why projects fail. Expectations or communications management are common reasons but not the only ones. Ultimately their are many reasons why projects fail and its a miracle that many projects are successful at all.

Perhaps the most probable way to succeed on a project is to have knowledge of what can go wrong.   Knowledge of what can go wrong is one very important tool.  Perhaps by understanding the causes of failure we can avoid pitfalls when they appear "unexpectedly."  This post is to introduce my list of perspective reasons of why projects fail which I will discuss in detail in future posts.

1. Inadequately trained and/or inexperienced project managers
2. Failure to set and manage expectations
3. Poor leadership at any and all levels
4. Failure to adequately identify, document and track requirements
5. Poor effort estimation

Book Review: Business Model Generation, Yves Pigneur

If you are looking for an easy read and great introduction to business modeling, this a great book.  The book provides excellent real industry examples to explain the steps for building a business model.  The book focuses on nine essential building blocks:

1. CS -  Customer Segments
2. VP - Value Propositions
3. CH - Channels
4. CR - Customer Relationships
5. R$ - Revenue Streams
6. KR - Key Resources
7. KA - Key Activities
8. KP - Key Partners
9. C$ - Cost Structure

These building blocks are laid out graphically and are referred to as a "business model canvas".  As you progress through the book each building block becomes clearer.

The book also does a good job of walking through how to identify what is critical for the business, where the cost structures are, where the benefits are, and how to organize those ideas.

If you have  previous knowledge of business model generation, this book may be a bit lacking in providing more depth.  The examples and cases are not very in depth.

In the end it is a good primer and reference book worthy of a spot on my bookshelf.

The Role Of A Mentor

A mentor is described as an experienced person, who acts as a confidential helper and guide to another to stimulate professional development and make it more effective. Having a breakfast or lunch meeting once month with somebody who just’ s listen to you toot your own horn and tell you how great you are is not what a mentor does. Furthermore a mentor isn't somebody who likes to talk about how great they are and how you should follow in their path.

In the past when I was searching for a mentor I sat down and made a list of what my expectations for mentor would be. Here is what I came up with:

• Formal relationship not just casual conversations, each meeting should have an agenda and defined message or outcome
• Someone to help me strengthen my weakness
• Someone to help build on my interests
• Someone that has had experiences that challenged them to grow and become a better person

Furthermore, I expect my mentor to look at my total body of work.  In that, I don't believe that you can separate who you are in personal life versus who you are in the professional arena. Your mentor should be working with you develop you as a person. 

What is your mentor relationship like, formal or informal? Do you have defined roles and responsibilities with your mentor? How has a mentor benefited you?

Future Blog: How to find a mentor

10 Books That Have Shaped Me And My Career As a Business Consultant

Often who you are as a person is defined by the knowledge you have and the theory and concepts that you live by.  Over the years I have read many books that have helped define who I am both personally and professionally.  The list below is a sampling of some of my favorites. 



Tell Me How I am Doing - Richard Williams
This books describes the importance of providing feedback to those around you.  Williams explains what can happen when feedback is denied, and then offers step-by-step guidance for making feedback an integral part of all working and personal relationships.

No Man's Land - Doug Tatum
This book does a great job explaining how companies end up in an adolescence stage and what they need to work on to move beyond it.  Tatum enables decision-makers to complete a series of reality checks to measure the effectiveness of their business' market alignment, management competence, business model, and allocation of resources which allows readers to understand how to push through No Man's Land.

Freakanomics - Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner
This is not your ordinary economics book.  Instead this book focus's on more real-world issues, like whether reading to your baby will make her a better student and analyzing data from a Chicago drug-dealer.

Who Moved My Cheese - Spencer Johnson and Kenneth Blanchard
Change is inevitable and can be a blessing or a curse, depending on your perspective.  This book talks about ways of reacting to change, anticipating change, and letting go of the old.

Common Nonsense - Andy Rooney
I have been watching Rooney on TV since I was a child but this is my first exposure to his writings.  Rooney writes about some fascinating ideas that require reflection over time.  Rooney's stories are short, two the point and entirely his opinion. 

The Accidental Leader - Harvey Robbins
What do you do if you walk into work one day and suddenly you are in charge? Robbins gives a checklist and guidance to be able to get organized and set direction for people to act.

Why Teams Don't Work - Harvey Robbins
This book present the real-life lessons of teamwork that most of us have learned the hard way. The book talks about how teams really are, not how they are supposed to be.

Crucial Conversations - Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler
Life is full of difficult situations that require not-so-fun conversations with the people around us, at work, school or home. This book will discuss how to handle difficult interpersonal situations with poise and skill.

First Break All The Rules - Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman
In this book will explain why exceptional managers select employees for talent, not experience, intelligence, or determination. Effective managers define the right outcomes for people, not the right steps; they focus on developing employee strengths, they find the right fit for employees in the organization.

The Millionaire Next Door - Thomas Stanley & William Danko
Financially successful people choose to do work that is economically rewarding. Rather than spending their money on expensive cars or designer clothing, they choose to save and invest it, focusing on relationships with family and friends.

You Can't Make Everyone Happy

Several years ago I learned a valuable lesson which is that you can't make everybody happy. Now that doesn't mean that I go through my days looking to disappoint others, rather I know that at the end of the day someone will not be happy with the actions that I have taken or result that I provided them. Personally I have found that if you can go about your day without worrying about the little things you will be more successful in meeting expectations of the big picture.


What are your thoughts on this topic? Do you wake up in the morning knowing that you are going disappoint someone? How do you rest at the end of the day knowing that you may have failed to meet someones expectations?

Employees Are One of Our Top Priorities

Ask any executive of an company what their top priorities are and inevitably you will get a response of employees are top priority. If this is the case, how do we explain the enormous popularity of the comic strip Dilbert and television show The Office, which often tend to mock how companies don't create environments to build or develop employees. Companies will often focus on acquiring the best employees in the marketplace but once they have arrived don't spend much time to continue developing them. Furthermore when it comes to developing in house talent, companies will focus on developing training classes and programs for employees, while those are all fine I don't believe it is enough. From my perspective what companies should be doing is developing environments to enable development. Similarly to the theory of motivation, individuals are motivated by conditions of their environment not by words of encouragement. This motivational environment often leads to employees feeling fulfilled by what they do which drives better performance in the work place.

H-1B Visas Could Soon Cost Companies More

I recently ran across this article about a bill that is currently working its way through the legislature.  Could this mean then end to IT outsourcing as we know it?  What does it mean for all the companies that bring on non technology H-1B visa holders?  Once again I don't believe that our legislatures are looking at the big picture here.

What are your thoughts?

http://tinyurl.com/2bmz3q8

The Theory of Project Management Proactivity

The other day somebody said to me, "Life is 10% what happens and 90% about how you react."  Now most of us have heard this many times over, but I started asking myself, does this really apply to project management?  Project Managers spend a lot of time planning their project and performing risk mitigation. Thus, Project Managers are proactive and can often predict what is going to happen before the event actually occurs. Therefore I am making the statement that project management is 90% about being proactive and 10% reactive.  Now this theory may not be new to some, but it has yet to be documented on the web anywhere, at least according to Google and Bing

What are your thoughts?

Adjunct Faculty, A Professional Responsibility

A few years ago I was approached with an opportunity to join a local college as an adjunct faculty member.  At first I was somewhat hesitant because of the time commitment that would be required above and beyond my current professional and personal responsibilities.  However after a short conversation with a colleague I realized that educating others should not only be a part of my professional responsibilities but that I also have a social responsibility to be educating others about my profession.  Teaching gives you a new perspective on client communication.  Often the students that are in my classes have very little to no professional experience, while the clients that I work with often have multiple decades of professional experience. thus teaching has forced me to come up with creative ways to describe my professional experiences as it to relates to class topic in a way that my students will understand.  In turn my classroom communication experiences have now given me a different perspective when communicating with clients which ultimately leads to a better engagement with my clients. 

If you ever have the opportunity to educate and influence those who may eventually be a part of your project team, I would highly suggest jumping in feet first by becoming an Adjunct Faculty Member of a college or university.

Can a Project Manager with a non IT background understand and be succesful in managing IT Projects?

In today's economy where more and more Project Managers are crossing over between industries and looking for new opportunities, often the million dollar question is "Can a Project Manager with a non IT background understand and be successful in managing IT Projects?"  From my perspective as long as an individual has a solid understanding of the base project management skills a Project Manager can be successful regardless of  the specific technology, industry or business the project is for.

What are your thoughts on this topic? 

There is also an interesting thread about this topic going on within the Project Manager Networking Group on LinkedIn - http://linkd.in/aFhMAy