project-failure Archive
-
Project Failure Case Study; Maine’s Medicaid System
Posted on April 25, 2006 | 1 CommentTalk about a project disaster. As reported in an excellent article in CIO Magazine, the Maine Medicaid Claims System project is a case study of a project gone awry. The project was undertaken to switch from their legacy systems to a new web-based system to... -
PMO Charters
Posted on April 18, 2006 | No CommentsJerry’s post about PMO success and failure experiences reinforces the point that it’s essential to have a clear plan for what a PMO is intended to achieve. With that goes the requirement for all the usual requirements for a successful project – one to set... -
Project Goals and How to Achieve Them
Posted on April 11, 2006 | No CommentsSometimes answers come from the strangest of places. I’ve been reading Jeffrey Gitomer’s excellent Little Red Book of Sales Answers, which went to #1 on Amazon.com this week. There are many eye openers, and more than a few tips that project managers can benefit from... -
Software Projects Doomed From the Start; Blame the Stakeholders
Posted on March 29, 2006 | No CommentsOK, maybe this doesn’t top the skateboarding dog (see yesterday’s post), but here’s an extremely compelling article from the Defense Acquisition University (DAU) on why most software projects are doomed to failure. Thanks to PMForum for posting this in their news section. The article states... -
Innovation and Project Management – Part 2 of 3
Posted on March 10, 2006 | No CommentsThis is a continuation of Part 1, and shows how Tom Kelley’s The Ten Faces of Innovation is living proof that innovation and project management are not mutually-exclusive, and in fact, must coexist for true success. In part 1, we talked about the book’s three... -
Project Failure Rates Still High, According to National Survey
Posted on March 2, 2006 | No CommentsApparently, project failure rates are still soaring. So says a national survey of 2,000 project managers and contributors, according to Projects@Work. The article said that only one-third of respondents claim their projects are frequently completed on-time and on-budget, and less than half said their projects... -
Managing Innovation Projects; A Different Breed?
Posted on February 18, 2006 | No CommentsI’ve been reading an excellent book by Tom Kelley, of IDEO (the award-winning industrial design firm). It’s called The Ten Faces of Innovation, and from reading it, I’d say there’s more than meets the eye that’s applicable to project management in general. I’ll be posting... -
Collaborative Thinking; The Project Manager’s Challenge
Posted on February 1, 2006 | No CommentsYears ago, I read a wonderful saying by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, the author of The Little Prince. He said, “Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward in the same direction.” That saying stuck with... -
Project Failure Rates Soar; Blame the Estimates
Posted on January 5, 2006 | No CommentsHow many times have you heard these statements from management? “I didn’t call this meeting to discuss whether we can meet the deadline. We’re here to decide how we’re going to meet it.” “What we’ve got to do now is to roll up our sleeves... -
Project Managers: Green Means Go?
Posted on January 4, 2006 | No CommentsGeorge Harrison discusses the need for project managers to recognize and react to indications of project failure. … … “Generally speaking, you and your business will not be able to make up missed milestones without one of two things: a reduction in scope and quality...
