Following entry is a record in the “Catalogue of Catastrophe” - a list of failed and troubled projects from around the world.
University of Wisconsin
Project type : Payroll and benefits system
Date : May 2006 Cost :$28M USD
Synopsis :
Payroll and benefits system project is abandoned after 5 years of effort. Board of governors (regents) had not received a single report on the project in its 5 years and was unaware that the University was facing a large scale project failure.
Cont...
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FBI Virtual Case File
Following entry is a record in the “Catalogue of Catastrophe” - a list of failed and troubled projects from around the world.
Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) - USA
Project : Virtual Case File - Project Trilogy
Date : Apr 2005 Cost : $170M USD
Synopsis :
Ambitious program to replace paper based reporting of crimes and investigations with an online system is scrapped. System was intended to aid efficiencies and allow pieces of information gathered through different channels at...
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National Health Service – UK
Following entry is a record in the “Catalogue of Catastrophe” - a list of failed and troubled projects from around the world.
National Health Service - UK
Project name : NHS Care Records Service
Date : Oct 2008 - UPDATED Sep 2010 Cost :$24B project (World's largest civil IT project)
Synopsis :
Rollout of the Care Records Service component of the UK's National Program for IT grinds to a halt after pilot sites report significant problems. Already 4 years behind schedule, the initial ...
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Rural Payments Agency
Following entry is a record in the “Catalogue of Catastrophe” - a list of failed and troubled projects from around the world.
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) - UK
Project name: Single Payment Scheme
Date : Jan-Dec 2006 Cost :$610M USD
Synopsis :
Following an European Union agreement to standardize subsidy payments to farmers, DEFRA develops systems to enable payments to UK farms. Lack of management and poor decision making cause DEFRA to miss implementati...
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Why Focus on Failure?
I'm often asked why I focus on the causes of project failure rather than placing a greater emphasis on projects that succeeded? I’ve been asked often enough that I’ve written the following post to allow a broader audience to understand the response.
“Although we tend to seek simple, single factored reasons for success, in most important things, success actually requires avoiding the many possible causes of failure” ... Jared Diamond (Pulitzer prize winner)
Being assigned to a large project...
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Dept. Homeland Security
Following entry is a record in the “Catalogue of Catastrophe” - a list of failed and troubled projects from around the world.
Department of Homeland Security - Emerge2 Project - USA
Date : Sep 2006 Cost : $20M
Synopsis :
Plans for the Emerge2 system (Electronically Managing Enterprise Resources for Government Efficiency and Effectiveness ) are scuttled after it becomes clear the project has headed off in the wrong direction. Original plan called for the development of an Enterp...
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Junior Doctors Online Recruitment System
Following entry is a record in the “Catalogue of Catastrophe” - a list of failed and troubled projects from around the world.
Medical Training Application System - UK
Date : May 2007 Cost :$12M
Synopsis :
Junior doctors forced to reapply directly to hospitals after a new centralized system for matching doctors and postings disintegrates. System left many of the UK's most qualified junior doctors without training posts. Publicity of the problems resulted in journalists identifyin...
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Externalization
Much like the famous twelve step program used for dealing with substance abuse, a first step in addressing the issues that lead to project failure is a willingness to admit that a problem exists.
Facing up to a mistake or being willing to take ownership for events that we feel reflect poorly upon us, is something that many find hard to do. In the political realm that exists whenever human beings interact, there is an inherent fear that an admission of failure will hold forth unimaginable cons...
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General Register Office
Following entry is a record in the “Catalogue of Catastrophe” - a list of failed and troubled projects from around the world.
Registry Office System - UK
Date : Mar 2007 Cost :$12M
Synopsis :
New system to register births, marriages and deaths across the UK purchased from a US company and adapted for use in the UK. Implementation results in chaos when system cannot handle volume of data being processed. Registry offices officially told to abandon the system after just 2 months o...
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Top of the Pops
I recently carried out a review of the various “top 10 reasons for project failure” lists that pop up on the internet on a regular basis. These lists tend to be popular and as such are frequently referenced in training sessions and blogs.
Not surprisingly these lists have common themes. Collating the most frequent into one “top of the pops” list reveals the big three;
Changing requirements
Lack of stakeholder participation
Lack of vision / goal
Although such lists are fun and many ...
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