Hey, it’s brutal out there. Work has become a 24/7 affair, emails are drowning us, restructuring with layoffs is common and companies are buying back their own stock instead of investing. Same thing goes for Projects.
There are many factors why projects fail, here are a few fundamental reasons.
- The consulting firm sold the client an overly complex solution. Always best to walk before you run.
- The client executives sponsoring the Project fail to communicate, motivate or inspire the project throughout its entire life-cycle.
- There is a lack of project visibility for project members including the client executives.
- Your blueprinting or discovery phase missed out on identifying critical gaps. A Gap analysis identifies areas where the future solution does not meet business requirements. I cannot stress enough how important the blueprinting and discovery phase is.
- The client executive(s) make “executive decisions” because they think they know better than everyone else, especially the consultants. Think of this as the Donald Trump disease.
- The blueprint and mapping during the discovery phase is not done using a pragmatic approach or a clearly communicated methodology. If you hired an architect to renovate your bathroom and he forgot about having to move the heating ducts, wouldn’t that be a problem during construction?
- Key technical expertise is missing or the consultants are too junior for the complexity.
- You did not do a risk mitigation workshop and follow those risks throughout the project life-cycle.
- Key client project members (or consultants) are not fully dedicated to the project when required.
- Can you add a few more reasons?
Need an example of a recipe for Project success? See the link below.
What a Near Perfect SAP Supply Chain Project Looks Like
Terry Vermeylen is a Next Generation Project Manager that has advised the US Navy, spoken at conferences, lost his soul a few times, and inspired teams to the point that they want to hug him.