Most Projects Fail … But they needn’t

Most projects fail. Most management teams experience people-related conflict.

This is a business problem.

It’s not just expensive. It’s a totally unnecessary waste of money, as well as being a drain on people’s psychological resources – which can be more expensive and disturbing still.

Projects fail due to people problems.
People problems are business problems.

And contrary to popular belief, the primary reasons for these failures are NOT technical, neither are they financial.

According to IBM Global Business Services (Making Change Work, 2008), just 41% of projects met their objectives completely. Other surveys document the success rate at 30%.

A regular study conducted by GPM (German Society for Project Management) and PA Consulting in Germany documents 3 key reasons for project failure, which far outweigh other factors:

  • poor communication
  • unclear requirements and goals
  • politics, egoistic behaviour of business divisions and internal arguments on authority.

The IBM study identifies the main obstacles to success as:

  • “[…] changing mindsets and attitudes (58%)
  • corporate culture (49%)
  • underestimating project complexity (35%).

Project professionals reported that these [so-called] soft challenges are actually more problematic than shortage of resources!”

Gallup Business Journal quotes a PricewaterhouseCoopers study of over 10,000 IT projects from 200 companies in 30 countries. “Only 2.5% of companies successfully completed 100% of their projects!”

The really serious problems arise when organizational resources are wasted by the entropy of unnecessary conflict within working groups.

The biggest hindrance to working together effectively and efficiently is … invisible barriers that exist in the minds of so many people!

Forget the so-called ‘soft issues’ – they do not exist in business. ‘Soft’ is a myth.
People issues are hard business parameters.
The statistics above provide evidence.
First Step to Project Success

Confront the human questions together … removing these invisible often sub-conscious barriers … enabling integration … improving business results.

It’s not only highly effective and goal-focused. It’s enjoyable too.
This is our work.