One of the trends I’ve noticed over the years has been the growing importance of the Project Management role. When I first started work more than 20 years ago, many projects were lead by a Technical Leader rather than a Project Manager. Today most projects have a dedicated Project Manager. The change is likely a […]
Posts under ‘Causes of failure’
The Cycle of Failure
After the firefights subside and a troubled project finally draws to a close, many organizations hold an inquiry into what went wrong. In theory retrospectives help identify root causes so that subsequent projects can avoid repeating the same mistakes. In practice, despite the reviews, many organizations find they lurch off of one troubled project and […]
First Option Adoption
When I ask teams to look back at a decision they made that didn’t work out as they had envisaged, they are frequently able to come up with one or more different alternatives that would have resulted in a very different outcome. While seeing such alternatives after the event is a useful learning exercise, it’s […]
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 […]