101 Common Causes
There are many causes of project failure and every failed project will have its
own set of issues. Sometimes it is a single trigger event that leads to failure, but
more often than not, it is a complex entwined set of problems that combine and
cumulatively result in failure. Generally these issues fall into two categories.
Things the team did do (but did poorly) or things the team failed to do.
Based on reviews of the projects in the Catalogue of Catastrophe and
discussion with more than 500 people involved in real life projects, the following
list documents 101 of the most common mistakes that lead to, or contribute to,
the failure of projects:
Goal and vision
1. Failure to understand the why behind the what results in a project
delivering something that fails to meet the real needs of the
organization (i.e. failure to ask or answer the question “what are
we really trying to achieve?”)
2. Failure to document the “why” into a succinct and clear vision that can
be used to communicate the project’s goal to the organization and as a
focal point for planning
3. Project objectives are misaligned with the overall business goals and
strategy of the organization as a whole (e.g. Sponsor has their own
private agenda that is not aligned with the organization’s stated goals)
4. Project defines its vision and goals, but the document is put on a shelf
and never used as a guide for subsequent decision making
5. Lack of coordination between multiple projects spread throughout the
organization results in different projects being misaligned or potentially
in conflict with each other.
Leadership and governance
1. Failure to establish a governance structure appropriate to the needs of
the project (classic mistake award winner)
2. Appointing a Sponsor who fails to take ownership of the project
seriously or who feels that the Project Manager is the only person
responsible for making the project a success
3. Appointing a Sponsor who lacks the experience, seniority, time or
training to perform the role effectively
4. Failure to establish effective leadership in one or more of the three
leadership domains i.e. business, technical and organizational
5. The Project Manager lacks the interpersonal or organizational skills to
bring people together and make things happen
6. Failure to find the right level of project oversight (e.g. either the Project
Manager micromanages the project causing the team to become de-
motivated or they fail to track things sufficiently closely allowing the
project to run out of control).
Stakeholder engagement issues
1. Failure to identify or engage the stakeholders (classic mistake award
winner)
2. Failing to view the project through the eyes of the stakeholders results
in a failure to appreciate how the project will impact the stakeholders or
how they will react to the project
3. Imposing a solution or decision on stakeholders and failing to get their
buy-in
4. Allowing one stakeholder group to dominate the project while ignoring
the needs of other less vocal groups
5. Failure to include appropriate “change management” type activities
into the scope of the project to ensure stakeholders are able to
transition from old ways of working to the new ways introduced by the
project
6. Failure to establish effective communications between individuals,
groups or organizations involved in the project (classic mistake
award winner).
Team issues
1. Lack of clear roles and responsibilities result in confusion, errors and
omissions
2. There are insufficient team members to complete the work that has
been committed to
3. Projects are done “off the side of the desk” (i.e. team members are
expected to perform full time operational jobs while also meeting
project milestones)
4. The team lacks the Subject Matter Expertise needed to complete the
project successfully
5. Selecting the first available person to fill a role rather than waiting for
the person who is best qualified
6. Failure to provide team with appropriate training in either the
technology in use, the processes the team will be using or the business
domain in which the system will function
7. Lack of feedback processes allows discontent in the team to simmer
under the surface
8. The Project Manager’s failure to address poor team dynamics or
obvious non-performance of an individual team member results in the
rest of the team becoming disengaged
9. Practices that undermine team motivation
10. Pushing a team that is already exhausted into doing even more
overtime
11. Adding more resources to an already late project causes addition
strain on the leadership team resulting in even lower team performance
(Brooks law).
Requirements Issues
1. Lack of formality in the scope definition process results in vagueness
and different people having different understandings of what is in and
what is out of scope
2. Vague or open ended requirements (such as requirements that end
with “etc”)
3. Failure to address excessive scope volatility or uncontrolled scope
creep (classic mistake award winner)
4. Failure to fully understand the operational context in which the product
being produced needs to function once the project is over (classic
mistake award winner)
5. Requirements are defined by an intermediary without directly
consulting or involving those who will eventually use the product being
produced (see also lack of stakeholder engagement above)
6. Individual requirements are never vetted against the project’s overall
objectives to ensure each requirement supports the project’s objective
and has a reasonable Return on Investment (ROI)
7. The project requirements are written based on the assumption that
everything will work as planned. Requirements to handle potential
problems or more challenging situations that might occur are never
considered
8. Failure to broker agreement between stakeholders with differing
perspectives or requirements.
Estimation
1. Those who will actually perform the work are excluded from the
estimating process
2. Estimates are arbitrarily cut in order to secure a contract or make a
project more attractive
3. Allowing a manager, sales agent or customer to bully the team into
making unrealistic commitments
4. Estimates are provided without a corresponding statement of scope
5. Estimation is done based on insufficient information or analysis (rapid
off-the-cuff estimates become firm commitments)
6. Commitments are made to firm estimates, rather than using a range of
values that encapsulate the unknowns in the estimate
7. The assumptions used for estimating are never documented, discussed
or validated
8. Big ticket items are estimated, but because they are less visible, the
smaller scale activities (the peanut list) are omitted
9. Estimation is done without referring back to a repository of
performance data culled from prior projects
10. Failure to build in contingency to handle unknowns
11. Assuming a new tool, process or system being used by the team will
deliver instant productivity improvements.
Planning
1. Failure to plan – diving into the performance and execution of work
without first slowing down to think
2. The underestimation of complexity (classic mistake award winner)
3. Working under constant and excessive schedule pressure
4. Assuming effort estimates can be directly equated to elapsed task
durations without any buffers or room for non-productive time
5. Failure to manage management or customer expectations
6. Planning is seen as the Project Manager’s responsibility rather than a
team activity
7. Failure to break a large scale master plan into more manageable pieces
that can be delivered incrementally
8. Team commitments themselves to a schedule without first getting
corresponding commitments from other groups and stakeholders who
also have to commit to the schedule (aka schedule suicide)
9. Unclear roles and responsibilities led to confusion and gaps
10. Some team members are allowed to become overloaded resulting
in degraded performance in critical areas of the project while others are
underutilized
11. Requirements are never prioritized resulting in team focusing
energies on lower priority items instead of high priority work
12. Failure to include appropriate culture change activities as part of
the project plan (classic mistake award winner)
13. Failure to provide sufficient user training when deploying the
product produced by the project into its operational environment
(classic mistake award winner)
14. Failure to build training or ramp up time into the plan
15. Change requests are handled informally without assessing their
implications or agreeing to changes in schedule and budget.
Risk management
1. Failure to think ahead and to foresee and address potential problems
(Classic mistake award winner)
2. Risk management is seen as an independent activity rather than an
integral part of the planning process
3. Risk, problems and issues become confused as a result team isn’t really
doing risk management.
Architecture and design
1. Allowing a pet idea to become the chosen solution without considering
if other solutions might better meet the project’s overall goal
2. Teams starts developing individual components without first thinking
through an overall architecture or how the different components will be
integrated together. That lack of architecture then results in duplication
of effort, gaps, unexpected integration costs and other inefficiencies
3. Failure to take into account non-functional requirements when
designing a product, system or process (especially performance
requirements) results in a deliverable that is operationally unusable
4. Poor architecture results in a system that is difficult to debug and
maintain
5. Being seduced into using leading edge technology where it is not
needed or inappropriate
6. Developer “gold plating” (developers implement the Rolls Royce
version of a product when a Chevy was all that was needed)
7. Trying to solve all problems with a specific tool simply because it is well
understood rather than because it is well suited to the job in hand
8. New tools are used by the project team without providing the team with
adequate training or arranging for appropriate vendor support.
Configuration and information management
1. Failure to maintain control over document or component versions
results in confusion over which is current, compatibility problems and
other issues that disrupt progress
2. Failure to put in place appropriate tools for organizing and managing
information results in a loss of key information and/or a loss of control.
Quality
1. Quality requirements are never discussed, thereby allowing different
people to have different expectations of what is being produced and
the standards to be achieved
2. Failure to plan into the project appropriate reviews, tests or
checkpoints at which quality can be verified
3. Reviews of documents and design papers focus on spelling and
grammar rather than on substantive issues
4. Quality is viewed simply in terms of testing rather than a culture of
working
5. The team developing the project’s deliverables sees quality as the
responsibility of the Quality Assurance group rather than a shared
responsibility (the so called “throw it over the wall” mentality)
6. Testing focuses on the simple test cases while ignore the more complex
situations such as error and recovery handling when things go wrong
7. Integration and testing of the individual components created in the
project is left until all development activities are complete rather than
doing ongoing incremental ingratiation and verification to find and fix
problems early
8. Testing in a test environment that is configured differently from the
target production, or operational environment in which the project’s
deliverables will be used.
Project tracking and management
1. Believing that although the team is behind schedule, they will catch up
later
2. The project plan is published but there is insufficient follow up or
tracking to allow issues to be surfaced and addressed early. Those
failures result in delays and other knock-on problems
3. Bad news is glossed over when presenting to customers, managers and
stakeholders (aka “Green Shifting“)
4. Dismissing information that might show that the project is running into
difficulties (i.e. falling prey to the “confirmation bias”)
5. Schedule and budget become the driving force, as a result corners are
cut and quality is compromised (pressure to mark a task as complete
results in quality problems remaining undetected or being ignored)
6. Project is tracked based on large work items rather than smaller
increments
7. Failure to monitor sub-contractor or vendor performance on a regular
basis
8. Believing that a task reported by a team member as 90% done really is
90% done (note often that last 10% takes as long in calendar time as
the first 90%)
9. Believing that because a person was told something once (weeks or
months ago), they will remember what they were asked to do and when
they were supposed to do it (failure to put in place a system that
ensures people are reminded of upcoming activities and commitments).
Decision making problems
1. Key decisions (strategic, structural or architectural type decisions) are
made by people who lack the subject matter expertise to be making
the decision
2. When making critical decisions expert advice is either ignored or simply
never solicited
3. Lack of “situational awareness” results in ineffective decisions being
made
4. Failure to bring closure to a critical decision results in wheel-spin and
inaction over extended periods of time
5. Team avoids the difficult decisions because some stakeholders maybe
unhappy with the outcome
6. Group decisions are made at the lowest common denominator rather
than facilitating group decision making towards the best possible
answer
7. Key decisions are made without identifying or considering alternatives
(aka “First Option Adoption“)
8. Decision fragments are left unanswered (parts of the who, why, when,
where and how components of a decision are made, but others are
never finalized) resulting in confusion
9. Failure to establish clear ownership of decisions or the process by
which key decisions will be made results in indecision and confusion.
Top 100 Reasons for Failure
November 19, 2023
0 4,420 4 min read
Failure is not something shameful; it’s a complex story of missed
opportunities and overlooked details. It refers to all the tiny things that didn’t
go according to plan, from the person who was too exhausted to notice an
error to the machine that wasn’t calibrated properly. It encompasses the
methods that were insufficient, faulty materials, unclear management and
challenging environments.
Often, when we try to solve a problem, we realize that it is not as simple as it
appears. There are various factors that contribute to it. For instance,
‘Method’ can cause issues due to lack of clarity, improper planning, or
unsuitable procedures. Similarly, ‘Material’ can lead to errors when there is
too much variability, or items are noncompliant.
Mechanical issues such as sensor failures or uncalibrated instruments are
predictable and preventable, but they can affect the system’s performance.
On the other hand, management issues, such as poor communication,
unclear strategies, and insufficient incentives can weaken even the most
robust system.
External conditions, from severe weather to network outages, can be as
influential as human action within the context of a situation.
Crafting a solution begins with identifying and addressing key factors.
Human Factors:
Boredom
Carelessness
Confusion
Disengagement
Disobedience
Distraction
Forgetfulness
Incapability
Inexperience
Manipulation
Misidentification
Misunderstanding
Noncompliance
Slowness
Tiredness
Unawareness
Undiscipline
Unfitness
Lack of motivation
Lack of skill
Methodological Factors:
Confusing methods
Inadequate planning
Incapability in execution
Incorrect procedures
Omissions in process
Outdated practices
Unavailability of necessary methods
Unclear instructions
Undefined processes
Unplanned actions
Unsuitability of methods
Material Factors:
Incorrect amounts
Contamination
Defects
Deformities
Discoloration
Expiry
Incorrect items
Noncompliance with standards
Unavailability
Undefined quality
Incorrect valuation
High variability
Mechanical Factors:
Abuse of machinery
Control failures
Corrosion
Degradation
Disconnection
Erosion
Inadequate installations
Insulation failures
Obsolescence
Operational failures
Overloads
Programming errors
Sensor malfunctions
Setup failures
Software bugs
Uncalibrated equipment
Managerial Factors:
Poor accountability
Insufficient capability
Inadequate capacity
Poor communication
Unresolved conflicts
Disengagement
Low follow-up
Unclear goals
Missing incentives
Unclear information
Poor performance
Unclear priorities
Poor resourcing
Low retention
Poor safety policies
Unclear strategy
Poor teamwork
Lack of training
Lack of support
Environmental Factors:
Bullying and mobbing
Crime
Diseases
Dirt and dust
Energy shortages
Earthquakes
Floods
Extreme heat or icing
Poor illumination
Unavailability of labour
Legal constraints
Lightning strikes
Network outages
Noise
Power failures
Shortages in staff
Supply chain disruptions
Space constraints
Traffic issues
Utility failures
Severe weather conditions
We must take assertive measures to identify and address these crucial
factors to ensure success and prevent failure. Let us take ownership of the
situation and steer it in the right direction.