1. Slow decision making.
2. Contractor/sub incompetence/inexperience.
3. Inexperienced senior management, project manager, team, technicians.
4. Inappropriate/ unconventional project design.
5. Inappropriate use of technology.
6. Weak project management/leader. Poor performers were not replaced.
7. Wrong people on project team (e.g. all headquarters and no field people on team).
8. Corporate goals/objectives/business case not understood/not fully specified by troops/poor task definition/ No one in charge.
9. Blind adherence to original plan regardless of how landscape has changed.
10. Over-aggressive/ idealistic plans (unrealistic schedule).
11. Lack of systematic planning/insufficient front-end planning.
12. Poor financial estimates.
13. Not understanding project trade offs.
14. Plans based on insufficient data.
15. Lack of project definition & scope.
16. Plan not developed by project team or users.
17. Key resources (overcommitted/or insufficient) not made available at critical points on the project.
18. Customer did not want project.
19. PM not given sufficient authority.
20. Becoming enamored with the technical at the expense of project managing.
21. Inability to estimate true costs.
22. Failure to integrate project into the hierarchy of projects/programs.
23. Poorly developed objectives.
24. A “half-baked idea” was erroneously developed into a project.
25. No risk management plan.
26. No project charter developed.
27. Not designing a functional project organization.
28. Accepting status reports that contain little relevant information.
29. No formal tracking system exists.
30. Poor periodic review process (e.g. strategic/ project/ contractor performance).
31. Lack of a sponsor or the early departure of the sponsor.
32. Insufficient senior staff on the project team.
33. Legislative delays.
34. Over-reliance on computer models instead of performing real testing.
35. Inadequate program/product/procedure/documentation equipment testing.
36. Lax management.
37. Poorly delineated responsibilities.
38. Untrained PMs and/or teams.
39. Poor morale.
40. Poor human relations.
41. Poor labor productivity.
42. Plan not committed to by those involved in the project.
43. Waning commitment by management/too many distractions.
44. Insufficient use of/inability to account for resources/ineffective plan implementation/follow-through.
45. High personnel turnover
46. Design error.
47. Not using proper project management methodology (e.g., tools, techniques).
48. No detailed plan/no back up plan.
49. Introducing a new product to market too quickly.
50. Poor designed WBS.
51. No root cause analysis – for in-project failure.
52. Significantly exceeding budget.
53. Lack of priorities.
54. Indecision at all levels; (sluggishness/slow to take action) approve.
55. Insufficient cohesion (team spirit).
56. Not conducting market analysis.
57. Product/service failed in the market place.
58. Product feasibility studies not conducted/or not complete.
59. Denial that project is a failure.
60. Management micromanaging the PM or being laissez-faire.
61. Not conducting project post mortems @ conclusion.
62. Permitting pet projects/politics/in-fighting to overwhelm objectivity.
63. Inability to obtain/funding (cost).
64. Poor interdepartmental coordination.
65. Poor communication/misunderstanding of project activities.
66. Poor monitoring/control systems.
67. Inattention to quality.
68. Unclear responsibilities; no single person is accountable/responsible for project.
69. No fallback options.
70. Poor contractor relations/performance (e.g., paid for incomplete or non-existent work/ products/ resources).
71. Not looking ahead; only looking back.
72. Project too technically complex/too difficult to build/understand/use/maintain/too new for the organization.
73. Stakeholders, support organizations, champions and project enemies overlooked.
74. Constantly changing requirements (e.g. plans, requirements, schedules).
75. Poor hardware/software selection.
76. Inadequate testing.
77. Built new plan on top of a previous plan that failed.
78. No/poor business case.
79. Unclear decision structure.
80. Inadequate/unavailable/or poor supervision.
81. Culture clashes.
82. Unexpected departures of key personnel.
83. Inability to organize the information from various sources, detect the problems early enough and bring together people with divided opinions regarding how to proceed, causing late discovery of problems and a late response.
84. Vendors not meeting commitments/ dramatically increased pricing.
85. End product harms customers.
86. Failure to coordinate:
a. Marketing/sales efforts (either too much or not enough)
b. Product development
c. Client contacts
d. Manufacturing
e. Construction
f. Hardware and software gaps
87. Underestimated system requirements.
88. Inattention to results/feedback received from the project team.
89. Inability to make requirements change.
90. Entire user community was not consulted before design began.
91. Unprofitably increasing regulatory requirements.
92. Benefits were over-promised and undelivered on.
93. Scope too broad.
94. Scope was allowed to creep.
95. Triage was not performed.
96. Identified problems were not addressed.
97. Critical path items were not addressed.
98. Impossible to develop a prototype.
99. Change in economic conditions.
100. Poor/or no analysis.
101. Poor cost control.
102. Lack of priorities/loss of focus.
103. Too many missed deadlines; cannot be completed by planned deadline.
104. Final project/end product incompatible with firm’s/customer’s other systems.
105. Lack of process and standards.
106. Failure to validate original specifications and requirements.
107. Failure to stress test the product or software.
108. Key activities are discontinued.
109. Failure to communicate with the customer.
110. Key people fail to attend scheduled meetings.
111. Poor planning assumptions.
112. Lack of/poor plans.
113. Lack of configuration management.
114. Management is ignorant of the technical issues.
115. No/poor documentation exists.
116. Existing relationships were not considered when replacing systems.
117. Failure to reuse code.
118. Political considerations outweighed technical factors.
119. Poor leadership of/by:
a. Executive team
b. Project manager
c. Project team
d. Contractors
e. Task leaders
120. Too many people working on the project.
121. Inability to change in a rapidly changing environment.
122. End product becomes obsolete.
123. Loss of political support.
124. Greed– as appropriate.
125. Poor release timing.
126. Failure to coordinate available resources.
127. No detailed walk-through was performed.
128. Project could not distinguish itself from competing offerings.
129. Failing to acquire the property necessary
130. A lack of financing
131. Limited signs of progress
132. Turbulent political situation
133. Couldn’t sway enough votes
134. Poorly performing equipment
135. Project somehow broke the law
136. Challenging terrain (construction projects)
137. Manufacturing issues
138. SM/PM failure to execute project in a timely manner
139. Failure to complete necessary and critical work
140. Over-reliance on experts knowledge/ unproven systems
141. Poor record keeping/ inventory control systems
142. Failure to recognize the problem
143. Failure to fully understand the project’s risks
144. Project does/ did not perform any better than the existing product
145. Too many bad side effects
146. Lack of political will at the senior leadership level
147. Failure to deliver desired results/ in trials/ testing

ABOUT PROJECT FAILURE. . .

• It’s insidious – not always apparent.• Comprised of many causes.
• Is often subjective – depending on the evaluator and the deliverables.
• While although a failure now, may later become a success.
• Is often a combination of technical and managerial failures