Where do projects fail?
(February 7, 2009)


It's a natural manner of being that people get excited by and put a lot of attention and energy into something new; a new love, a new house, a new tech toy, a new job. So, is failure the result of fading interest or is the continual demand for new the issue?

Every time I start a new project I'm excited, my clients' are excited and we're working like crazy to get it all done so that we can celebrate the conclusion. Then on to the next project. At the outset ideas are flowing freely and I spend considerable effort ensuring that the scope of the project remains within budget for one and a reasonable solution for another. Everyone is all excited about jumping on the latest and greatest idea out there but they seem blind to the effort need to maintain something - especially as there is a reasonable demand for ROI.

Just because a clients' business is not publishing doesn't mean that they shouldn't learn from the established publishing organizations that effort and money is required to publish. Websites are publishing ventures.

Scope: Education and Expectations

Educating clients that they should keep things simple and learn to build in the need for infrastructure to support the latest great idea before they jump in with both feet. I'm tired of seeing projects fail because the client was all excited in the first blush of love with a new idea or concept and failed to understand that much work, yes actual work by qualified professional with actual time to devote to the work, work and cooperation was required to sustain and make the project a continued success.

There's always a point where the ideas must stop because nothing will get finished if you don't. The project scope must be carefully managed. New ideas are great but they can be planned for and integrated at a later date, with a different budget.

When it comes to expectations, clients need to be reminded that not everything will fit in the budget so either something suffers because you want to have it all, or they learn to accept the fact that they can only have TWO if they want to achieve success.

The old lovers triangle - Cheap, Fast, Good - where it is impossible to have all three at once.

Focus

But mostly projects fail because we allow ourselves - the producers and the client alike - to take our eyes off the focus of what we're trying to accomplish.

Of course there's always the demand to keep a company moving and even before one project is finished the demand to get moving on the next item is raging. Certainly waiting until one thing is finished and perfect does not work in business - you've got to keep moving to stay ahead of the competition. BUT, and this is a BIG but, if you don't stay focused on the goal, then nothing will come of any of your work.

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