AMBARISH GUPTA
PROGRAM MANAGER – CIGNA INSURANCE
AMBARISH GUPTA
PROGRAM MANAGER – CIGNA INSURANCE
Projects are high visibility, and generally high-value initiatives undertaken by organizations with an aim to make a significant difference in which they conduct business. However, every year, organizations around the world bear the brunt of millions of dollars wasted in the form of failed projects. Furthermore, in a bid to salvage or bring such projects on track, another fortune is spent on expensive consultants to assess and recover failing projects. The resultant, more often than not, is a significant deviation from the original plan, and a disproportionate degree of success. Such projects are labeled as “failed”.
What causes a project to fail? How often do projects fail? What kinds of projects are more likely to fail? These are some of the questions that arise to the thinking mind. Before we get on to find the root causes of project failure, let’s look at some statistics to get a perspective of how “big” an issue are we talking about.
Search this one up, this would give you some perspective. This is in Honduras, Central America. It’s a fine, well-built bridge except that the river does not flow under it, but to one side. It’s rather funny when you see it, but it must be tragically unfunny for those who depended on the bridge. Apparently, when the bridge was built, it was in the correct place. However, a massive hurricane came and caused terrible flooding. It completely destroyed the approach roads, and forced the river to chart a new course, leaving the bridge spanning dry land! Many failed projects come to resemble the bridge, giving a grim reminder to the fact that projects can be left “high and dry” when they do not adapt and adopt to the changing environment.
While there can be multiple reasons of project failure, the usual suspects are the following: