Why Projects Fail

A project is determined by a start and an end. Before the project started the work does not exist. During a project the work does exist. When the project ends work no longer exist. To determine if something can be identified as a project it must have certain characteristics. They include a defined scope, finite budget, deliverables (specific end results) and assigned resources. During a project there are interacting processes. The initiation process starts the project and identifies the organization’s commitment to the project. The planning process defines the objectives and the scope of the project. The processes must be executed which coordinates the resources that are needed to carry out the project plan. These processes must be controlled or monitored in order to take corrective action if needed. Finally, there are processes to close out the project which include acceptance of the deliverables that were identified.

This course provides the foundation for successful project planning, organization, and implementation within the realm of information technology. The course uses real-world examples and identifies common mistakes and pitfalls in project management. Topics covered include project scoping, estimating, budgeting, scheduling and staffing, tracking and controlling, and software tools for project management.

Firstly, R.Ryan Nelson (2007) referred to 10 of the most infamous IT projects to assert the importance of making a careful analysis of projects that have occurred to help future projects. In order to attest this opinion, he illustrated the case of United Kingdom’s

In conclusion, the questions of what business situation to address and what needs to be done are critical success factors to any project. The Project Charter and Preliminary statements derive from such questions and are therefore essential to how a project plan is developed with achievable objectives, what resources are required to launch/execute the project, how to monitor and control parameters and when to identify project ending and close out. Wysocki (2012, p.9) aptly captures this in his definition of project as; ‘a sequence of finite dependent activities whose successful completion results in the delivery of the expected business value that validated doing the business’. Therefore,

This is why a Project Manager is so useful in any organization to make sure that we get the right project management plan, which include a concise and accurate project scope statement and "realistic" project expectations.

The top ten factors for a successful project are, user involvement, executive management support, clear statement of requirements, proper planning, realistic expectations, smaller project milestones, competent staff, ownership, communication, adequate support and resources.( Iman Attarzadeh and Siew Hock Ow)The ten factors that cause a project to fail are, poor planning and/or inadequate process, inefficient way to document and track progress, poor leadership at any level, failure to set expectations and manage them, inadequately-trained project managers, inaccurate cost estimation, lack of communication at any level, culture or ethical misalignment, competing priorities and disregard of project warning signs (Lim, 2012). Iman Attarzadeh and Siew Hock Ow, also have another list that identifies project challenge factors. These factors are identify as, lack of user input, incomplete requirements and specifications, changing requirements and specifications, lack of executive support, technology

Rob, M.A.; , "Project failures in small companies," Software, IEEE , vol.20, no.6, pp. 94- 95, Nov.-Dec.2003

There are many reasons for the failure of the project here are the few reasons how there is a failure accourance for the software projects.

The idea of the project success and its criteria has remained vague, due to the wide perspective it carries (Liu and Walker, 1998). Project success has always been seen as an abstract notion, thus it is very complex to determine if a project is a success or not (Chan et al, 2002). Thus, the criteria for measuring the project’s success are normally agreed and accepted by all parties, before beginning the project. Else, it is hard to control the trajectory of the project, with all team members finding it hard to focus in one direction.

A project is defined by the Business Dictionary as a “planned set of interrelated tasks to be executed over a fixed period and within certain cost and other limitations”. Projects are targeting defined objectives and they can include different deliverables.

What is project failure? The impacts of project failure? The Top 10 problems that result in project failure • The cause of the problem • How to fix the problem • How to prevent the problem from happening again

This paper reflects the experiences I have encountered working in a project team identifying the problems that occurred, how I managed those problems, and what I learnt from them.

So for any project there should be feasibility analysis done so that it helps to decide whether investing in the project and using resources gives the profit or not and the type of the risks they may face in the project. (Feasibility Study, n.d.)

The outcome of the feasibility study is a project or several projects for which preliminary examinations have been conducted of possible alternative actions, including the related impacts and costs.

Project Procurement • Seng and Yusof (2006) compared design and build contract with g ( ) p g traditional contracting method and found that the characteristics of design and build procurement method make it different from other procurement systems and are advantageous. advantageous Robinson (1987) compared different tendering procedures and contractual arrangements and found that the cost and time overruns were almost g negligible in projects executed by design and construct method.