Project Failure is rarely from a single catastrophic failure but more often a catalogue of signals lead upto the failure, are these symptoms of project failure?
These signals can be many and subtle:
- a missed project status report coming through
- a minor deliverable not delivered to time
- a risk flares up unexpectedly
All of which in isolation may have different causes or contexts that make them innocuous and no cause for alarm.
When multiple signals begin to occur then these may be symptoms of project failure, there may be a series of causes that are linked and require attention.
Symptoms
Projects often ignore symptoms.
This is not to say that the project or programme manager are incompetent, far from it. But identifying what is and what is not a symptom of project failure is not a straightforward task.
The context and timing of events can play a big part in whether there’s a symptom to be identified or if the manifestation is simply the normal ebb and flow of project management.
How to identify Symptoms of Project Failure
The three key factors that drive projects are:
- Time
- Cost
- Quality
Where there are signals or events that impact either of these three then it is time to investigate if this is a signal or a symptom.
Difference between a Signal and Symptom?
A not particularly challenged work stream missing a status report would indicate a signal rather than a symptom. Where indictors are good the work stream should be no cause for alarm.
Where the project manager is running hot then a similar missed work stream update might be a symptom to investigate.
The latter would be a likely candidate for further investigation to identify what is the ’cause’ behind the missed update.
Where the project appears to be running fine but there is an inconsistent attendance of the project stand-up, this would be a signal that might go unheeded by the project for a time but should deserve some investigation as early as possible.
What to do with Symptoms of Project Failure?
An identified symptom requires swift action to map back to the cause(s) to address them, yes there may be more than one cause and it can take time to find them and address them.
The immediate action is usually to quickly implement a workaround to address the symptoms if not the cause.
