101 Common Causes There are many causes of project failure and every failed project will have its own set of issues. Sometimes it is a single trigger event that leads to failure, but more often than not, it is a complex entwined set of problems that...
Classic Mistakes Analysis of the examples in the “Catalogue of Catastrophe” reveals the most common mistakes. Given the frequency of occurrence, these mistakes can be considered the “classic mistakes”. The following list outlines the most common themes and provides links to examples; The underestimation of complexity, cost...
Companies must pay as much attention to the hard side of change management as they do to the soft aspects. By rigorously focusing on four critical elements, they can stack the odds in favor of success. Summary. Everyone agrees that managing change is tough, but few...
Is your next delivery going to be agile or waterfall? Start by considering scope and requirements. Are those fixed? ...
For many years, organizations, researchers, and practitioners have analyzed how to manage technology projects successfully. Among them is the Standish Group, which regularly publishes its findings in its Chaos reports. In 1994, Standish reported a shocking project success rate of only 16 percent; another 53 percent of the...
The Top Nine Project Failures Related to Project Definition from Postmortem Data Do any of these top nine project definition mistakes sound familiar? Business Case The business case and rationale was vague, tactical, debatable, or created in a vacuum. Goals There was some ambiguity between customers, management, project managers, and...
Why human skills and expertise, not technical tools, are what make projects succeed. The project is the basic unit of work in many industries. Software applications, antiviral vaccines, launch-ready spacecraft: all were produced by a team and managed as a project. Project management emphasizes control, processes,...
Project management doesn’t come cheap—it takes up to 20% of the overall project budget. Running a project without solid management, or bad project management, however, will do more harm than good. That’s why we’ve put together the most important project management statistics to help you paint a...
After reading “Principles” by Ray Dalio for the second time this year I was thinking about what principles do I have in the area of project management? And how are these principles different from practices? We are always looking for simple ways to apply good principles...
An executive project sponsor's role is a difficult one to navigate and execute. There are many strings pulling you in different directions, especially at the higher levels of management – such as multiple priorities and initiatives that compete for limited organizational resources, capacity, funding, and focus. You...