Reality Check...
Many projects fail, a survey of 50,000 projects found only 58% of small projects could be said to be successful.*
From a 2017 survey** the reasons given for projects having deemed to have failed were:
- "Change in organizational priorities" - Project in current format is no longer needed?
- "Inaccurate requirements gathering" - Lack of preparation?
- "Change in project objectives" - The customer has changed their mind, now wants something different!
- "Inadequate vision or goal for the project" - Lack of preparation?
- "Inadequate / poor communication" - Poor leadership?
- "Poor change management" - Changes in requirements not properly handled!
- "Inaccurate cost estimates" - Lack of preparation?
- "Undefined opportunities and risks" - Lack of preparation?
- "Inadequate sponsor support" - They frequently fail when the person paying the bills loses interest.
- "Inadequate time estimate" - Lack of preparation?
- "Resource dependency" - Poor planning and / or lack of preparation?
- "Inadequate resource forecasting" - Poor planning and / or lack of preparation?
- "Limited resources" - Poor planning and / or lack of preparation?
- "Inexperienced project manager" - Lack of training?
- "Task dependency" - Poor planning and / or lack of preparation?
- "Team member procrastination" - Poor leadership?
* 2018 Standish Group report ~ Chaos studies 2013-2017.
** PMI’s 2017 Pulse of the Profession report.
So Why Do Projects Fail?
From that survey it can be seen that, from a project management perspective, the primary reason for failure is simple, Lack of Preparation, followed by Poor Planning.
The Good News
Correctly managing a project will substantially reduce the risk of failure.
And the ones that do fail will probably do so for reasons outside of your control.
Why Document Anything?*
If someone says “It is a simple job so don’t waste time doing any documentation” they are so wrong and here are a few reasons why.
It Helps Your Brain Do Its Work
Encoding is the biological process by which the things we perceive travel to our brain’s hippocampus** where they’re analysed.
From there, decisions are made about what gets stored in our long-term memory and, in turn, what gets discarded.
Writing improves that encoding process. In other words, when you write it down or key it in, it has a much greater chance of being remembered.
As you are generating your documentation your brain is actually thinking about the project, not just where to put your fingers on the keyboard.
There is a second benefit your brain gives you for free when you document your project and it’s called the “generation effect”. People
demonstrate better memory for material they’ve generated themselves than for material they’ve merely read.
For those doing a personal project then it has been found that you have a 20-40% better chance of completing your goal if, at the beginning, you write down you goal in a clear and vivid way.
You May Be Perfect, But Is Everyone Else?
Even if you think you have a perfect memory and you can remember everything, it is exceedingly unlikely that everyone else involved in your project has your super powers.
The Snowball Effect
A project starts as something quite small and simple so nobody bothers with any documentation.
The project specification starts getting changed, not once, but a few times.
You might have forgotten exactly what the original project was about or you realise that you failed to keep everyone up to speed with all the amendments.
Before long, it becomes a bit of a mess. It is no longer project management, but crisis management.
Now click the
to start your first lesson.
*Extract from the book Managing Small Projects by Peter J A Noblett.
**The bit that controls our memory and emotional responses.