The following entry is part of the Pattern Library. The Pattern Library records the common patterns of behaviours and events that have the potential to lead to project failure.
Pattern name : Top Led Failure
In brief :
Strategic blunders by Senior Executives at the start of the project put the project on a course to disaster. Because the flawed decisions were made at the most senior of levels, the problems is never corrected resulting in a project pursuing a path that will eventual...
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Pattern
Disconnect Failure
The following entry is part of the Pattern Library. The Pattern Library records the common patterns of behaviours and events that have the potential to lead to project failure.
Pattern name : Disconnect Failure
In brief :
Project loses sight of its overall business objectives and ends up implementing a system that fails to meet the originally intended business objectives.
Description :
Disconnect failures occur when the project's intended business benefits fail to materialize beca...
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Quality Kaboom
The following entry is a part of the Pattern Library. The Pattern Library records the common patterns of events that have the potential to lead to project failure.
Name : Quality Kaboom
Type : Behavioral pattern (patterns that shape the sequence or flow of events)
In brief :
Quality activities are pushed to the end of the development cycle allowing hidden problems to grow in magnitude. High levels of rework only become apparent late in the project cycle.
Description :
All projec...
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Alignment Failures
The following entry is a part of the Pattern Library. The Pattern Library records the common patterns of events that have the potential to lead to project failure.
Pattern name : Alignment Failures
In brief :
Different parties are focused on different goals resulting in conflicts and poorly alinged efforts
Description :
Although the need for a formal project goal is firmly established in the Project Management literature, in practice other forms of goals also influence a project's ...
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Navigational Failure
The following entry is a part of the Pattern Library. The Pattern Library records the common patterns of events that have the potential to lead to project failure.
Pattern name : Navigational Failure
In brief :
Team lacks leadership and oversight in one or more dimensions resulting in errors and omissions.
Description :
Technology projects require decision making in three primary domains; the business domain, the technology domain and the organizational (or management) domain. Wh...
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Green Shifting
The following entry is a part of the Pattern Library. The Pattern Library records the common patterns of events that have the potential to lead to project failure.
Name : Green Shifting
Type : Behavioral pattern (patterns that influence the actions or conduct of an individual or team)
In brief :
The tendency to report project status in positive terms despite growing indications that serious problems exist.
Description :
Green shifting refers to the suppression of bad news in proj...
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Silos
The following entry is a part of the Pattern Library. The Pattern Library records the common patterns of events that have the potential to lead to project failure.
Name : Silos
Type : Behavioral pattern (patterns that influence the actions of an individual or group)
In brief :
Organizational boundaries between groups and organizations prevent free flows of communications or collaboration.
Outline :
Many project teams are formed by resources from a number of different groups or organi...
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Poly-Project Blindness
The following entry is a part of the Pattern Library. The Pattern Library records the common patterns of events that have the potential to lead to project failure.
Name : Poly-Project Blindness
Scope : Behavioral pattern - Patterns that influence the behavior of an individual or team
In brief :
Team fails to recognise that a new project has unique characteristics that dictate the need for a different approach than prior projects.
Outline :
All projects are unique and although there a...
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Intellectual Disintegration
The following entry is a part of the Pattern Library. The Pattern Library records the common patterns of events that have the potential to lead to project failure.
Name : Intellectual Disintegration
Scope : Event pattern (patterns that shape the sequence or flow of events)
In brief :
Breakdown of communications between individuals and groups results in errors and omissions.
Description :
Technology projects are large scale, complex, decentralised decision making activities. The ...
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The Pressure Wave
The following entry is a part of the Pattern Library. The Pattern Library records the common patterns of events that have the potential to lead to project failure.
Name : The Pressure Wave
Outline :
Projects sometimes face a fixed deadline for completion. Where sufficient notice is received, such projects can be run normally, but where notice is too short, significant schedule pressure can build up. Sometimes the short notice is in fact self-inflicted. Although the organization had ...
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