Most organizations do not take on projects unless there is a business imperative that makes the success of the project critical. Unfortunately most projects fail. They fail for a variety of reasons.
One of the reasons that projects fail is that the project does not really have the support of senior management. Anther reason is that the organization does not have the skills to actually do the project or that the organization will not dedicate the resources to project success.
Regardless of the reason, when projects start to go bad, the project manager will ultimately take the blame. When they go bad, then the organization brings in a new project manager, but if the root cause isn't addressed then the project will continue in the downward spiral.
I have taken over many a failing projects over the years. It isn't a pleasant thing to take over a failing project. Sometimes you have to let people go, fire a sub-contractor, convince management to properly resource a project, or anything or everything to get the project done. It isn't pleasant to sit in a project status meeting getting beat up because the project is over budget, behind schedule, or looks like no product will be delivered. As they say, "success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan." I just know that by making this project a success, people are going to be mad or upset or feel threatened. I will forge ahead, people are destined to feel the way they feel.
Some projects can't be saved due to the structural issues outlined above or nobody wanted the project in the first place. It is gratifying when the project succeeds in the end. It takes a fighter to fight through all the opposition and pull that project out of the jaws of failure.
No comments:
Post a Comment