Top 5 Reasons Projects Fail (Part 4)

It's been awhile since I last posted as I have been debating what really should be reason number four project failure....well not really, I just have been failing to met my own expectations with everything I have going on.  


In any case reason number four for project failure is adequately identifying, documenting and tracking requirements. Using documentation requirements does not eliminate the need for formal, well organized process for gathering requirements.  Sometimes people believe that a one page email with a wish list features is good enough.  Not so much! The good news is that most project owners/sponsors believe that requirements need to be documented.  Nailing requirement documents must be done very early in a project, wait till later and it's to late. Ambiguity is good for no one thus you must clarify that ambiguity as quickly as possible.  


There are various tools and techniques for defining requirements like codifying, progressive elaboration, interviewing, modeling and interviewing. You can use one or all these tools to help you to define your requirements.  

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 (Part 2)

Inadequately trained and inexperienced project managers is perhaps the number one cause of project failure. The reason why it contributes so much to project failures is because it is the responsibility of the PM to guide the organization as it executes on projects. Just as important as training is experience. Issue management, politics, and diplomacy are examples are things you just can't be training on.


The reason so many projects and therefore project managers fail is that the PMs are not prepared. Executive management fails when they do not understand what it takes to be an effective PM and at the same time don't understand what a difference a trained and experienced PM can make.

What Training Is Needed?

• Understanding the Project Management Body of Knowledge
• General Management
• Understanding the technology being deployed. This will vary based on the project.

As more organizations recognize the link between delivering on commitments and project management skills, the requirements for PMs will increase.

In the end PM's need to keep growing and gaining experiences to be successful.

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

I Want To Be A Project Manager But I Don't Have Experience

I often meet new people who say to me "I want to be a Project Manager but I don't have any experience so I  can't find a job that will allow me to be a Project Manager." My first response is, you aren't looking for the right opportunities.  Just because you don't have the title of Project Manager, doesn't mean you can't manage a project.  In your current job you can look for opportunities to take on a simple/small project.  Something as simple as organizing a team building event or organizing a server room can be a project.  In these examples you typically have scope, budget, and timeline that you are aiming for. 

There are also ways to get experience managing a project outside of your employer's environment.  Just about any non-profit, religious organization, local government, educational institute, etc. would be more than happy to have you as a volunteer and often you can pick what it is that you do, ie manage a project. 

So if you want to be a Project Manager and are having challenges finding an opportunities, think outside the box and don't just look for role with a title of a Project Manager.

TechFuse Presentation Follow-up

A few weeks ago I spoke at the TechFuse event in Minnesota at Mystic Lake Casino. As I mentioned in the
I am posting the content from my session "My Relationship With My Project Manager"

If you have questions, feel free to leave a comment. If you would like to see this presentation or others on related topics at your user group or company, you can comment or contact me via email – amaaraba@digineer.com

When Motivational Factors Don't Exist

In most organizations there are traditional motivational factors that exist such as a monetary performance bonus, job title recognition, promotion into a different role, etc. When managing projects a key to success is having motivated project team members.

In my experience when the the standard motivational factors don't exist, you need to get personal with project team members.  You need to find out what motivates each individual on your team and then find how you can create the motivational situation.  Unfortunately, in some instances you just wont' be able to accommodate everyone and that's when other the other skills of a project manager will need to be engaged to ensure the success of your project. 

What do you do when the traditional motivation factors don’t exist on your project?

I have also started a discussion this topic on the Inside Consulting group on LinkedIn.
http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Project-Manager-Network-1-Group-37888?trk=myg_ugrp_ovr

Passion Is Everything

The Leadership of an organization can only do so much. We are all responsible to ourselves for invigorating passion into our line of work. How is passion defined? Passion is when people discover the work that motivates them to achieve their potential by seeking extreme performance improvement. Passion makes our job become more than a mode of income.

Why is passion so significant? Because it drives a questing character that is essential to employee performance as they react to the inevitable unexpected challenges/opportunities in today’s work environments. Passionate workers tend to participate more in the life and growth of an organization. If an organization can create an environment that encourages passionate workers, the organization will surely benefit.

Let's see some passion!

What Is The Million Dollar Question When Implementing Change?

Throughout my career I have been involved in projects that affect people and processes in many different ways. During project initiation the project requestor or manager would talk about all the great things that the project was going to do to benefit the organization. But often there was one thing that was lacking that should have been prior to initiating the project. In my mind that one thing is the million dollar question, “What is going to motivate people to get on board with this project?" If that question has not been answered, then without a doubt there will be an uphill challenge for the project to be successful.

So to sum it up before I start any project and preferably before the project request is submitted for approval from a sponsor or governance team, I always ask the million dollar question.

Learn where menu and toolbar commands are in Office 2010

Many of us have made the transition from Microsoft Office 2003 or 2007 to 2010 and are now spending a lot of time searching the ribbon for functions that we previously new the location.  Save yourself some time and check out this interactive link from Microsoft. 

Learn where menu and toolbar commands are in Office 2010 and related products

Should Hope Be Your Strategy For Success

On several occasions I have been in a meeting with clients and/or colleagues who defined their execution plan using the words hope or hopefully .  From my perspective hope really shouldn't be part of your strategy  for success.  Instead, I believe a person should be clearly articulating the objectives, deliverables, scope and change management plan that will be used to execute on the project.  Having an effectively planned strategy will allow a person to deliver a project without using words like hope or hopefully. 

What are your thoughts on hope as a strategy?

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?