Why Do Projects Fail?

So, Why Do Projects Fail? Has this ever happened to you that you started a project with a well-discussed plan but yet it ended up failing? You thought of every possibility that could go wrong, and still, there were delays, deadlines, and out of resource problems, etc. Being motivated and determined is good, but you also need to understand the reasons behind the failure of projects. This article gives detailed information about the most common reasons for project failure, and in the end, you will also get insights into how to make a project successful using Agile Project Management.

Top Reasons why projects fail

Scope Creep

Scope creep, or scope management is a concept that describes how job requirements tend to increase over time in the lifespan of a project. Sometimes, a project that started with a single deliverable, might end up with 5 deliverables. Scope creep is typically caused when project stakeholders change requirements. It might also happen due to internal miscommunications or disagreements. Hence, scope control is necessary for a project to succeed.

Lack of Change Management

Changes while working on a project are natural. It’s important to make proper change initiatives to keep the project moving in the right direction. This is where change management comes into play. It’s basically how you tackle and manage new changes from both internal and external factors. A lot of times, maybe due to lack of experience or impracticality, projects fail at the first attempt. Lack of resources is also among the common factors for management change failure.

Poor Risks Management

Every project is unique, and hence, there are unique project risks for every project. Thus, adequate project management is necessary due to the uncertainty of risks. The project manager needs to keep on anticipating the various types of risks that might cause trouble. This planning to mitigate the risks is called risk management. Without it, there are always chances of project failure, and a lot of projects fail due to a lack of risk management.

Ineffective Cost Management

In agile project management, the overestimation of resources is a big reason for the failure of projects. With scope creep or unwanted risks, it's involuntary for resources to exhaust, leading to project failure. Hence, cost control is crucial for the success of any project. Another important aspect of project management is balancing "cost overrun." The unexpected increase in budget for an in-progress project is called a "cost overrun," which happens due to a lack of data while creating the budget. Overall, cost control is necessary for project success.

Incompetent Project Manager

It is common for a person to get promotions to managerial posts. What mostly happens is that any technical or skilled person with good enough experience is promoted to a manager post. But the problem is that they are not skilled or have not undergone adequate training in project management. They often don’t even get into project management. They lack leadership or social skills that create problems like miscommunication, improper project implementations, delays in project schedules, impractical goals, etc. Thus, hiring a properly skilled person with good experience is important to lead a team and the project toward success.

Ineffective Stakeholder Management

Agile project management requires a good relationship between the company and its stakeholders. They both have a combined interest in the project. It’s the project manager’s job to find the desired stakeholders for the project. Also, the project manager is required to manage and maintain proper communication with both the stakeholders and the company promptly. Due to a lack of organized communication in the project plan, oftentimes projects come to an end due to miscommunications and delays in details.

How to make a project successful with Agile Project Management Software?

Now, as it’s clear why projects fail, it’s time to understand how to make any process successful. Implementing agile project management requires understanding the basic concepts and ideas behind it. Agile management embraces change and risks. The project's success depends on many factors like flexibility, resources, working team, communication, etc.; hence, it’s a complex process that requires experience and time. However, here are some tips you can use next time to improve your chances of completing a project from start to finish.

Practice These things for Project Success

Following techniques used in Agile Project Management to identify and resolve challenges in project management of large-scale projects.

• BART

BART or Boundary Authority Role Task is used to identify problems within the team and find out the root cause of the problem.

• Pain Snake

Pain Snake is a technique to find out what’s causing interruptions in teams.

• Agile Project Management

An Agile Coach is a very crucial part of any project that’s responsible for the success of the project by maintaining and supporting the product manager and team. He helps resolve issues in teams and avoid delays. Hence, an experienced agile coach can bring wonders to project management.

• Run a Pilot Project

A good pilot project gives opportunities to experience how a project can be successful with agile practices. Make sure the environment is controlled while practicing agile project management.

• Run Sprint Zero

By running an initial planning iteration, also called the Sprint Zero, the product manager can estimate and produce an initial product backlog, analyze and identify initial risks, and much more. Sprint Zero gives a product manager a free hand to initiate a project even before it starts. It also helps in producing a high-level architectural roadmap.

• Agile Project Management Tracker

Using the right management software is very useful for project tracking and managing communications, scheduling, task enforcement, etc. During the length of a project, there are always chances of challenges and problems that can lead to project failure. Hence, the right management tool becomes crucial for dynamic task updates and organized resource allocation regularly, leading to overall success in collaboration from various stakeholders. One such agile project management tool is Coexsys, which offers an all-in-one suite for complete project tracking, along with 24X7 customer support. With flexible pricing and an organized interface, Coexsys can help you succeed in project management. Click here to visit now and explore more.

• Strategic Program Management

Modern trade and commerce is increasingly becoming project based.  Most organizations will experience this paradigm shift from operations to project based.  Therefore, rise of project based business model will replace operations based business model as product and service customization requirements increasingly become granular and complex.  To ensure this transition, companies will need to embrace strategic program management as part of their growth strategy.

 

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