Beat The Odds On Your Way To Project Success
What makes a project successful?
One of my research interests is why projects fail, and occasionally I find myself standing in front of groups of people explaining what makes a promising project fall short. It’s a pretty gloomy topic, so after thoroughly depressing everyone by covering the statistics (71% of projects fail each year! But only 0.5% of project managers admit to working on a failed or failing project – how does that work?) I also talk about how we can beat failure.
Is Project Management right for any company?
This is a world of failed projects costing corporations billions of dollars. It is time for companies to re-focus their attention to more alluring projects and following very strict project management practices. Cutting projects is never a favorable thing, but it is proven less costly than doing the right projects and actually doing it right. Doing projects right may mean that skilled project managers are required. What is also known is that the skill is rare and much harder to find than expected.
So what can you do to ensure better PM success at your company?
Following the Leader
“Lessons learned” is a phrase used across the project management industry as well as in life. When I tell my 8 year old not to touch the stove, she knows that I must have touched it before and it’s not good! Lessons learned for a Project Manager is what makes the PM more of an expert and allows others to learn from their mistakes and [even some] successes. How can you take these valuable lessons and apply them to others?
