Every project manager has experienced a project going off the rails. Here are four reasons I’ve seen projects fail, over and over again, and what to do about each of them.
1. Disruptive Noise
When a project starts to struggle, the stakeholders around it get “loud”. Executives start poking around, stakeholders start asking more questions – and rightly so because they sense that something isn’t quite right. But the increased scrutiny creates a cycle that disrupts the project further. They might replace key people that you need, or they might even make some decisions that you know will have a negative effect.
The fastest way to break the cycle of “disruptive noise” is to deliver small, early wins.
Break the project into smaller pieces and showcase something real as soon as possible. A working prototype, a test environment delivery or a completed milestone. Follow it up with a clear communication far and wide – to the right people showing what has been achieved.
Speaking of the right people: check the organizational chart. Missing a high-influence stakeholder is one of the most common ways projects run into trouble. Identifying and engaging them early prevents much bigger problems later.
2. No Resources or Authority
Being asked to deliver a project without the funding or access to make it happen is a situation that catches many project managers off guard. The fix is to get commitment in writing before work begins.
A signed project charter that includes the project sponsor’s commitment to funding and resources is not just a formality. It is a forcing function. If a sponsor is not willing to commit resources to paper, that tells you something important before you have spent months working toward a goal that was never properly supported.
3. Unrealistic Timeframes
An executive wants it done in two months. The people doing the work say six months. This is one of the most universal project management experiences there is.
Always get estimates from the people actually doing the work, not from the people requesting it. Use ranges rather than single-point estimates, especially early in the project when complexity is highest. Experienced project managers on large construction projects routinely build in a 40% contingency. Things change over one to two years in ways that cannot be fully anticipated at the start.
If the pressure for an unrealistic timeframe continues, raise it formally as a risk. Document the potential impacts: reduced scope, increased cost or both. Assign an owner to that risk. Often the right owner is the executive applying the pressure in the first place. Once the risk is documented and assigned, everyone is on the same page if things deteriorate further.
4. Frequent Change Requests
Constant changes to scope are usually a symptom of unclear scope from the start. The solution is to get specific about what is being delivered before work begins.
Involve subject matter experts and break the work down into a work breakdown structure. Prototypes, wireframes, storyboards and process maps are all useful tools for making the scope visible and testable early. The more concrete the picture of what is being delivered, the less room there is for misalignment later.
When change requests do come in, make the impacts transparent. Every change affects the triple constraint: scope, schedule and cost. If someone wants to add something, show them exactly what it will cost in time and money. When the person requesting the change understands the tradeoffs, the conversation becomes much more straightforward.
None of these problems are unusual. Most experienced project managers have encountered all four. The difference between a project that recovers and one that does not usually comes down to how quickly the root cause is identified and addressed.
– David McLachlan
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