Causes of Project Failure

Not all projects are such high profile ones, but there are plenty that exceed their budgets or fail to
deliver on their promises just as spectacularly. Project managers often have a poor reputation for
delivering what was expected without budget or time over-runs. And one of the industries with
the worst record is the technology industry where failures are said to exceed 50% of all projects
undertaken.

So organisations make commitments to major projects, but cannot always deliver what was
expected and, more worryingly, cannot determine how much value they are getting from their
investment. Many corporations do not even measure the value added by a project once it has
been completed.

Publicly available statistics of project failures vary dramatically in their estimates and do not
include confidential data from private corporations so are not an entirely reliable guide. Yet each
new project begins with enthusiasm and no expectation of failure, but often without having
learned lessons from previous projects that might contribute to success this time around.

Even on simple, straightforward projects there are many areas that can cause the sorts of
problems that can eventually manifest themselves in failure. Add to the many possible causes of
failure any level of complexity and problems can rapidly escalate into disasters. Here are just
some of the most common causes of project failure:

1. Poorly defined project scope

2. Inadequate risk management

3. Failure to identify key assumptions

4. Project managers who lack experience and training

5. No use of formal methods and strategies

6. Lack of effective communication at all levels

7. Key staff leaving the project and/or company

 8. Poor management of expectations

9. Ineffective leadership

10. Lack of detailed documentation

11. Failure to track requirements

12. Failure to track progress

13. Lack of detail in the project plans

14. Inaccurate time and effort estimates

15. Cultural differences in global projects

So the causes of project failure are wide and varied. In addition promised resources may not be
available when required, executives may fail to grasp the full reasons behind instigating a project
or there may be political reasons for continuing with a clearly unviable project.

How we can prevent

This article describes some project management techniques to avoid project failure. If there are
no proper techniques of project management then surely it will result in the project failure.
Project managers should know how to overcome project failure and need to adopt efficient and
effective methods for the same. So, here we have listed some ways of reducing project failure.

1. Adopt the Proactive Approach

Project managers get the skills and knowledge for the ongoing project from their past experience
after working for many years. An experienced and highly skilled project manager has all the
capabilities to handle the customers and knows how to avoid project failure.

If you have just started project management then there should be an experienced mentor with
you so that you can discuss your problems and you can get proper suggestions from his
experience. If you are experienced in project management, you should use your skills and
knowledge into the project and you will be aware of the common reasons for the project failure.
Here are some best opportunities that you can adapt to do your project planning with the
proactive approach:

 Inappropriate skills and insufficient manpower can result in huge loss and delay in
deliverables
 Poor communication, inappropriate work planning, and improper risk management
can lead to the project failure
 Never be rushed to start the project on the assumption that you can deliver it earlier.
Even it can result in errors, rework and omissions.
 Emphasize the importance of properly initiating the project which is the most critical
to the project’s success.
 You must recognize the point of time when your project is unrecoverable
 Use a proper development methodology for your project development.

2. Plan Project’s Strategy and Project’s Implementation

Planning is the most important stage of all the projects. Most of the time, proper attention is not
given during the planning stage. Planning is something how you are going to work on the project
and how will you implement the project. What will be the strategy; how you are going to start
your project. This is all you need to plan to avoid project failure. If you will do a proper planning
then it will increase the project’s success probability. Once you have completed your project’s
planning, then start the execution of the project using Project Management Life Cycle.

3. Manage the Project Goals

First of all, you should manage your project scope and you should not try to control it. Never rely
on understanding, verbal agreements and on memory for any of the decisions you have taken for
your project implementation. You should document the decisions, actions and the results of the
project before you have started the project, during the project and after you have implemented
your project. It is always necessary to ensure the project deliverables and work properly with the
customer requirements to avoid project failure.
4. Avoid Unrealistic Expectations

Never set unrealistic expectations and the time frames with the stakeholders, team members, and
the customers to meet your project’s deadline. It is related to the proper project beginning but
goes deeper until the project’s implementation. Realistic expectations must be set for the team
members as per their capabilities to avoid project failure. Also, you should encourage them to
work with enthusiasm and get beyond their comfort zone to reach the project goal.

5. Track Project’s Progress

You can track your project’s progress by considering two things, first is where your project
should be and secondly, where actually it is at a certain point in time. So, to control your project,
the first thing is to have a plan. The planning of a project will help you to determine where your
project should be at this moment. The second thing is to find out where your project should be at
any given time. For this, you should know how much of the work has been completed, whether
your work is on schedule, whether it is going as per the planning, etc. So, to find accurately
about the progress of your project, you should consider all the three factors. These are schedule,
scope, and the cost incurred. These are the three parameters that control any project and play an
important role to overcome project failure.

6. Identify Risk Factors

The risk is something that cannot be avoided and will certainly happen. So, the best thing you
can do to avoid risk is to identify, analyze and respond to the risk factors. So, if you find out the
risks and the potential issues at the starting stages of the project, your project team can avoid
these risks with appropriate actions. Identifying and resolving risk factors will help the project
manager to reduce the chances of project failure. Thus, in this way you can do proper risk
management and can avoid project failure.

7. Propose the Solutions

Even though you are the project manager but still you will not be having all the skills and
knowledge of the world. You also need professionals around you to avoid project failure. So, you
should discuss the problems and also present your proposed solutions to the team members.
Also, show your team members and stakeholders that how your proposed solutions can result in
fulfilling their needs. You should also think about your team member’s inputs and consider them.
Listen to their solutions and consider the suggestions they share with you. So, you should agree
with the best solution after discussing all the possible solutions with the team.

8. Use Correct Methodology

Selection of Project Management methodology is one of the important decisions that you must
take if you are a project manager. What you choose will impose an intense impact on the
teamwork. But, these methodologies have their own advantages and disadvantages depending on
project type and project scope. Here are some examples of top project management
methodologies.

 Waterfall method
 Agile/Scrum
 Hybrid approach
 Critical Chain Project Management
 Integrated Project Management Technique
 Critical Path Method (CPM)
All the project management methodologies can’t be considered best for a project. So, understand
the project requirements and choose the one that is best suitable for your project. The selection of
correct methodology will help you reach the project goal within the given time period avoiding
project failure.

9. Continuous Improvement and Analysis

Continuous improvement is a technique for analyzing contingencies to have a concentration on

goal and waste reduction. Now, this technique is used by a number of organizations across the
whole world to analyze saving contingencies. This method is highly valuable for the project
management process as it reduces project cost and makes a balance. With the running project,
you need to analyze present work status, identify and solve issues. And after that search for any
contingency that can improve the chances of project success by reducing the possibilities of
project failure. 

10. Focus on Stakeholder’s Requirements

As we all know that a project will succeed only when it achieves its goal and meets the
stakeholder’s expectations. In order to succeed in project management, all of the team members
need to be actively involved with the project and be strongly devoted to the success. Devoting
means that the following phases need to be inscribed:

 The proficient initiative, which helps the team in the implementation of different tasks
over the project life–cycle.
 Adequate financing, which ensures the cost- generating department of the
organization for sufficient funding for the projects.
As the requirement of the stakeholders goes on changing over time, there should be need of
proper and continuous communication with them to make sure that the project won’t lose
strength. Being a project manager, try to focus their requirement as they are the only persons
who can make or break the project.