WHY DO IT PROJECTS GO WRONG?
Every project that a company ventures into doesn’t always yield desired results. There are some projects that are not in line with expectations of the organization or customer. Perhaps in one word we can define those projects as ‘failures’. In IT, a project will often be considered a failure when it fails to meet the projected cost, quality, or deadline. But sometimes it isn’t easy to explain why the project went wrong; there could be dozens of contributing factors in a project failure. From lack of proper planning, weak project management, to simple communication gap between the team; it seems like almost anything could be a reason for the failure.
It’s essential to know some basic reasons for project failure, so that you can make sure to avoid those mistakes in your projects. To make your task easier, we talked to some industry experts about their opinion on reasons for project failure. Here is a compilation of reasons that might be affecting the success of your project. These essential points can be considered while analyzing your project situation.
Not Knowing the Business Requirements– If you think delivering a project on time, within budget, and to the quality means successful project, then think again. It’s all about the results. If you deliver the wrong thing then it will still be considered as a failure. The project should deliver what the organization/customer needs.
Assumption based Business Case – It’s very important to deliver what you promised. Organizations should be realistic while writing the business case. If your business case can’t be delivered or is unrealistic, then it’s impossible to complete the project. To make things worse, after the business case is approved, delivery of other things then becomes dependent on the project. This makes the project deadlines, budgets and expectations more difficult. Hence, projects fail when the business case doesn’t match its claims.
Weak Project Management– Project manager is the person who identifies the need for change in any area of the project, and he/she is the person responsible for making the project happen. A good project manager can turn a second-rate project into an exceptional success, and a poor project manager can frustrate and delay a brilliant team. So, the role of a project manager is very crucial and essential. If you think your project manager couldn’t have cared less for the project, then you know that the project is headed to a wrong direction.
Poor Implementation – Many organizations believe that delivering project competently will automatically avoid poor implementation, but that’s not true. The delivery can be intricate. Organizations need to manage issues, risks, teams, scope of the project, and communications with the clients. If you are delivering change then it could be hard as not everything is controlled by you. Hence, competency is not everything for good implementation, but it can provide a good start.