project failures v1.8

8/13/2019 Project Failures v1.8

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Project Failure: Who Says? And

Some Legal Stuff … Dr. Brendan D’Cruz

University of South Wales

Can you define project failure … ???

Is it easier to define project success … considerquality, reliability, usability and requirements


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3/21

Management Activities by Frequency that

Contribute to Failure (Taylor, 2000)

• Poor scope management (81%)

• Poor change management (73%)

• Poor project management (70%)

• Poor monitoring and control (58%)

• Poor risk management (50%)• Poor client management (38%)

• Poor communication management(35%)

• Poor changeover management (18%)

• Poor contract management (15%)

• Poor interface/system management(5%)

• Poor cost management (5%)


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PM4SUCCESS (2006) Survey … • Weak executive sponsorship

• Too many recent change initiatives• Poor communications with stakeholders

• Unsupportive corporate culture

• Poor skills training/education

• Inadequate resources/funds

• Lack of line management commitment

• Employee/end user resistance

• Unclear strategy/objectives

• No support from top management

• Too much politics/self-interest

• Poor benefits management

• Mismatch of expectations• Failure to confront the real issues

• The Not-Invented-Here syndrome

• Weak implementation

• Unrealistic timescales

• Lack of change management experience


5/21

The ‘Top 10’ To 2006 1. Poor definition of project scope

2. Lack of senior management/executive support

3. Unrealistic timescales

4. Incomplete or changing requirements and

specification

5. Poor user input (& mismatch of expectations)

6. Lack of planning

7. Lack of or inadequate resources8. Lack of leadership and/or communication skills

9. Poor stakeholder management

10. Lack of project specific skills/competence


6/21

• Business reasons for project failure• Business strategy superseded

• Business processes change (poor alignment)

• Poor requirements management

• Business benefits not clearly communicated or overstated

• Failure of parent company to deliver• Governance issues within the contract

• Higher cost of capital

• Inability to provide investment capital

• Inappropriate disaster recovery

• Misuse of financial resources• Overspends in excess of agreed budgets

• Poor project board composition

• Take-over of client firm

• Too big a project portfolio

Key Reasons Why Projects get CancelledJohn McManus & Trevor Wood-Harper, e-BCS PM, June 2008


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Why Projects SUCCEED,

from The Standish Group (1996) in

Computing, 27/6/96, p.31

• User involvement (15.9%)

• Executive management support (13.9%)

• Clear statement of requirements (13.0%)

• Proper planning (9.6%)

• Realistic expectations (8.2%)

• Smaller project milestones (7.7%)

• Competent staff (7.2%)

• Ownership (5.3%)

• Clear vision and objectives (2.9%)

• Hard working, focused staff (2.4%)


8/21

What? No Benefits?

• Overambitious or unrealistic expectations

• Benefits being prescribed rather than calculated

• Lack of stakeholder engagement

• Realisation is beyond the organisational boundary

• Benefits that can’t be measured

• Declaring victory to early

• Lack of management information

• Lack of skills and experience

• Benefits delivered AFTER project, so who cares?


9/21

Reports and Disasters• Inland Revenue system abandoned (1985)

• KPMG (1990) – 30% of projects over budget, over time• London Stock Exchange (Taurus, 1993) abandoned

• KPMG (1996) – 85% of projects in large UK companieslate, over-budget, etc. … are we actually getting better?!

• KPMG (1997) – 62% of 120 organisations had at leastone runaway project

• Passport Office (1999) fails with much publicity

• Also: London Ambulance Service, DSS, DVLA, PostOffice Horizon/Pathway, National Air Traffic Services,

Libra, Child Support Agency, Prison Service, WembleyStadium, Millennium Dome, Job Centre+, Terminal 5Baggage, Dept. of Transport

• …NHS IT (e.g. EPR), ID cards, Nimrod,Transformational Government, London 2012 Olympics!

• Whose money? Whose accountability? Who cares?


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© Transformis Consulting Ltd, 2007

Project TAURUS - 1993


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LAS Computer aided dispatch - 2002


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NHS Computer Programme - 2007


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[Edit ] Why Don’t We Learn?

Repeated high profile and costly failures

Repeated surveys: 50% – 85% of projects fail in

some way … from academic studies?

Methodologies aplenty, certifications galore …

Government and corporates seek improvement

Drive towards professionalism is important!

http://www.silicon.com/technology/it-services/2011/08/22/five-ways-to-stop-your-it-

projects-spiralling-out-of-control-and-

overbudget-39747844/?s_cid=193

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47844/?s_cid=193


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Interactions

Solution

Delivery

Benefitsrealisation

Businessacceptance

The Project

Board


15/21


What’s going wrong?

Solution

delivery•Incomplete/changing

requirements

•Lack of businessinvolvement

•Lack of resources

Benefits

realisation•Poor strategic fit

•Poor business case

•No realisation plan

Business

acceptance•Lack of change vision

•Poor communication

•Fear, uncertainty, doubt


16/21


Do the key relationships work?

Sponsor

Accountable

Executive

Project

Manager Requirements

Solution


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Alan Ruddock (2007): The ‘model’

The

Project / Programme Board

S o l u t i o n

D e l i v e r y

B u s i n e s s

A c c e p t a n c e

B e n e f i t s

D e l i v e r y

Independent Assurance

People Management

Effective Risk Management

Staff

Executives


18/21

Pinto’s Critical Success Factors

• Project mission – clearly defined goals/directions• Top management support – are they willing to giveauthority/power and necessary resources?

• Project schedule/plan – action steps for implementation

• Client consultation – active listening and engagement

• Personnel – right people, right tasks – projectorganisation

• Client acceptance – ‘sell’ the benefits to intendedusers?

• Technical tasks – supporting technology

• Monitoring and feedback – control information/action• Communication – network of information/knowledge

provision e.g. Project Place, SharePoint, etc.

• Troubleshooting – crises and deviations from plan


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20/21

• 1 - Analyses and understands the project and its context within the proposed

business change and how these can enable the expected benefits (indirect,

direct, financial and non-financial).

• 2 - Agrees success criteria for the project with the sponsor, ensuring they are

measurable.• 3 - Identifies critical success factors for the project with stakeholders.

• 4 - Agrees KPIs, ensuring these are quantitative by using traditional time, cost

and quality techniques.

• 5 - Understands the relationship between the timing of deliverables and the

realisation of benefits.• 6 - Discusses and agrees the project success criteria and benefits realisation

responsibilities with all relevant stakeholders as part of the project management

contract with the customer.

• 7 - Executes and controls PM plans and changes, and reports on project

performance.

• 8 - Ensures that the impacts of any deviations from plan are considered against

the business case and the benefits realisation plan, and are escalated to the

responsible stakeholders.

• 9 - Collects results and prepares project performance reports against the agreed

KPIs and anticipated benefits, and communicates to relevant stakeholders.

• 10 - Ensures that benchmark data is captured against which benefit realisationcan be measured.


21/21

The Discussion …

• There are no magic solutions for success – BUT are there‘better practice’ approaches that can help to avoid failure?

• Research has become more focused and pervasive, but

is it still too perceptual? What else can be done?

• Differences between reports on projects in the public andprivate sector – are they really that different, and why?

• Differences between TYPES of project – do they matter?

• Does an entire project (or programme) not need multiple

fail/succeed criteria? Name some … • We will look at communication, risk management, quality

management, change control, configuration management,

planning, etc. when we look at Prince 2TM

project failures v1.8

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