68% Of All Projects Not Successful
March 8, 2012
According to the Standish Group’s 2009 Chaos Report, almost 7 out of 10 projects fail. This highlights the urgent need to raise maturity in project management.
I write about this to stress how essential resource management and clear structures are for project success. Sharing my experiences, I aim to help organisations cut the Gordian knot of poor resource allocation.
Standish Group stated in their Chaos Report of 2009 that ~68% of all projects are not successful.
For sure, the Chaos Report has recently been discussed controversially. Stefan Hagen looked behind the numbers and published the findings on his blog (German). The bottom line of many articles: organisations still have huge room for improvement in project management maturity.
In recent weeks, I did a lot of web research on reasons why projects have been challenged or even failed. I was overwhelmed by the diversity of reasons, split into hard and soft factors. Here’s a brief summary (unsorted):
- Incomplete Requirements
- Lack of Involvement
- Moving Targets (Scope Changes)
- Lack of Resources
- Insufficient Communication
Resource management was repeatedly listed as a key factor. Related terms included: lack of resources, inappropriate resource allocations, overbooked resources, missing skills, and missing availability.
I’ve spent the last years working in the field with many clients and can fully confirm these findings. Resource allocation has always been a recurring challenge. Think of your last projects! Who can truly say there was no issue with availability?
That’s why I decided to write a series of posts on Resource Management. I want to share my experience and show ways to cut the Gordian knot of resource allocation.
If this article caught your attention, stay tuned here. In addition, I will speak about this subject in a session at the Microsoft Project Conference (#mspc12) in Phoenix, AZ, March 20th–22nd (abstract for session #pc309).
In the next article, I will share insights on underlying conflicts and day-to-day situations I experienced first-hand.
Ingo Meironke, PMP – Manager at Campana & Schott - @meiroTweet