Project Failure Root Causes are key factors that will save us many days of resource effort throughout the project.
There are causes and then there are Root Causes.
Both types produce symptoms and have their impacts that will affect the smooth running of the project.
The Cause that keeps on giving
As opposed to a ‘cause‘, a root cause is the originator of future causes and the multitude of symptoms and impacts that arise.
All of which will demand effort and time from the project team to investigate, explore and implement workarounds to minimise the impacts of.
Fix the Project Failure Root Causes
By fixing the root cause then you will eradicate not only the cause that is currently in front of you but ALL future causes that could arise from this root cause.
In our core example we talk about the leaking pipe as a cause of the dripping water.
And in that example we see the neighbour in the flat above exercising and causing stress on the pipe below as the root cause.
So in order to resolve the root cause we need to ‘ensure that the pipe doesn’t crack again once repaired’.
Sphere of Control
When it comes to resolving the root cause just fixing the crack in the pipe only fixes a cause.
The neighbour will continue to exercise won’t they?
So what is within our ‘sphere of control’ that we can implement that will stop the pipe from leaking in the future?
To know the answer to this we will need to look into what good practice we can employ to fix the problem for the long term.
- Read the example failure scenario of The Leaky Roof.
