Explanation as to Why Projects Fail Essay

Having the right members of staff is very crucial when running a project. Project mangers have to be extremely careful when employing members of staff, hiring people that do not know how to use tools during the development of a project can result in time consumption. Going over the budget If the project manager wastes more money then necessary, then how their project going to be able to continue, how will members of staff get paid, and where are they going to get the money for the tools that are needed. Project managers have to always be wary about how much money is being spent and to always keep track of their budget and avoid spending too much money. Insufficient details from client It is extremely important for the project manager to find out as many details as possible in order to create the product for them. If there are not enough details and the product is made, the client may not be satisfied and therefore the project has failed as well as the project manager. There are projects out there that do not give enough requirements which have led to cases where the developers of the project having no input from the client, and create a project that they believe is needed without them knowing anything about the business itself. When the project has then been given to the client, business users will then say that it does not do what is needed to be done. This is also connected to a lack of user involvement; a user has to always know exactly what they want and have the ability to specify it precisely. Not enough proper time to research and plan Before any project starts, planning has to always be taken place in order to prepare for the unexpected so that we can react quicker minimising any problems as much as possible. But if not enough time has been given to properly plan and also to research a product, that will only increase the risk of the project failing. Using the wrong kind of tools There are many different kinds of software’s that can be used for many different kinds of things. Using the wrong software can be almost impossible or difficult to do the project. For example to create a spreadsheet, Microsoft Excel will be needed. But if Microsoft FrontPage is provided, then it would be impossible to create the spreadsheet because FrontPage is used to make websites and WebPages, not spreadsheets. They can over-run (passed the deadline) If a project has passed its deadline, it has failed and the client will probably not be able to afford the project any longer and will terminate the project. Projects can pass the deadline simply because certain problems may have been very difficult to overcome and therefore time-consuming. Other things can also include members of staff not working full time or not working properly in the project. Poor communication People have to communicate with each other in order to know what is happening and what is going on. If people do not communicate with each other then how they will know if they are doing everything in the correct order and if everything is working perfectly in order for them to continue. It is extremely important that members of staff tell each other when to apply certain things or when to start creating little bits in order to make the project. Lack of User Involvement Everyone that has been hired to carry out the project must always be involved so that project can run as smoothly as planned. A lack of user involvement can prove to be fatal for any kind of project. Every user has to be involved otherwise nobody in the business will be committed to a system and may be also hostile to it. In order to have a successful project every single user has to be involved from the start of the project and continue to be involved throughout the whole development. Changes in the requirements While a project is being developed, what can sometimes happen is that the client can suddenly decide to add more details to the production of the project, because of this happening many projects has failed simply because there was not enough time to finish the project due to the amount of time that it took to add those extra details. Long or Unrealistic Time periods Sometimes clients give project managers a ridiculous amount of time to finish a project when it is impossible because there maybe few members of staff, or not enough money to pay for tools that are needed to create the project. Project managers have to plan carefully how much time is needed to create a whole project, a manager will have to take in consideration how much members of staff are needed and for how much time. Managers have to also be aware of any unrealistic time periods, for example for a product to arrive or a specific tool or software. Waiting for tools to be delivered could take a week or more which could have an impact over the whole project. It is recommended that project managers review all project plans so that they will be able to see if they are all realistic before they proceed with anything. Poor Testing People that are developing projects will have to carefully test them and also test to see if it meets the business requirements. But testing can sometimes fail because of many faults, these can include: * Poor requirements * Tests not done properly or not at all * Trained users that do not know the purpose of the system * Insufficient time to perform tests as the project is late Bad decisions being made This can involve wrong decisions that have been made by the project manager. Bad decisions can normally happen if no planning has taken place and the project manager does things without any meaning or thinking about it, managers will need to carefully make any decision. An example of this could be hiring more staff then needed or buying more software’s then needed for the project. Reference details: http://www.adaptivepartners.com/projfailb.htm 22/09/09 http://www.coleyconsulting.co.uk/failure.htm 22/09/09 http://www.carlosconsulting.com/downloads/Reasons_why_projects_fail.pdf 06/10/09