Why do projects fail?

This quick interview with risk management expert Sue Young gets to the heart of the matter of project failure. Why IT projects fail - Computerworld, 25 August 2003

Q. So why do IT projects fail? A. No one prevented them from failing. We define success as a lack of failure and failure as a lack of success. If you eliminate the possibility for failure, the only possibility you have left is success.

And what about those project reports that don't tell you anything? She says that project reports that aren't written in well-defined, objective terms are guaranteed to sound rosy.

The beauty of a good PM process within any organization, not just inforamtion technology, is the ability to clearly identify the status of the project and clearly outline the greatest known risk factors. With that information in hand, the team (or management, if necessary) can make educated decisions on mitigating the risks before they create problems in the project.

2 Comment(s)

Hresh Patel said:

"Lack of proper project definition and scope are the main reasons why projects fail"
Chalfin 1998 p7 taken from Schwalbe Chap 4

Using this assertion write a response that takes the assertion into account and also the concept of the triple constraint and the topic of project risk and risk management.

Achiro carla said:

most projects actually fail due to poor definition improper needs assessment and prioritisation.am a student of project planning and management in makerere university kampala

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This entry was published on September 15, 2003 1:23 PM and has 2 comment(s).

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