Other Projects | consultjdf

8 Areas of Project Failure

Project Organization Levels

1/4

Over the last 25 years, I have been lucky enough to successfully manage a broad range of projects, teams and strategic initiatives. Over this time, the field has continued to evolve and mature. And in recent years, there are no shortages of articles on Project, Program, or Change Management related topics -- key principles to ensure success, common reasons for failure, tools and template, methodologies and analytics, project governance, etc.

Despite the rigour, methodology and available reference materials now available; in my experience, managing projects successfully is still as much art as it is science. Soft skills like being able to sell or tell a compelling story; understanding what a client really wants versus what they tell you they want; negotiating organizational politics; conflict resolution; focusing on win-win outcomes, but realizing sometimes this won't be possible; managing personalities; knowing when to push and when to ease the pressure; understanding the ebb and flow of a project's life cycle are just as important. These aren't things that are easily taught, but are instead learned over years of managing projects in real life. I have come to fully understand that they are critical to leading successful projects and client engagements.

As an effective Project Leader, we need the ability to see the bigger picture, facilitating and influencing strategic conversations from a skilled viewpoint and through deep analysis and understanding of the client's business goals and objectives. We must encourage art of applying agility and flexibility in managing ever evolving project situations, priority changes and unforeseen risks and circumstances -- in addition to applying the science of industry standard methods, tools and knowledge.