When a project fails, who is to blame? Is it completely the fault of the Project Manager? Or is a failed project the result of others who aren’t doing their job? Whether those were the users who didn’t provide clear requirements or the business analysts who failed to validate the requirements during analysis. Maybe the developers dropped the ball when designing the solution, or maybe the stakeholders didn’t provide the right resources or not enough of them for the project and endangered the project that way.

Focus on the work processes

Generally there is enough blame to go around when a project fails. But it is the Project Manager's task to manage and deliver the project and who is responsible for all problems and obstacles in the way of successfully delivering the project in time and on budget. So, at the end of the day, there’s only one person at fault for a failed project: the Project Manager.

Or maybe there’s somebody else who’s actually to blame? William Deming has a clear opinion:

“95% of the problem is the process, only 5% the people.”

Maybe that’s not always true, but more often than we would like to admit, project organisations have much better people skills and tools than they have work processes.

When you approach the failing of a project as a defect in the process, it works much better for the project organisation than yelling at the Project Manager and calling him every name under the sun. Because then you have pinpointed the problem!

The solutions from MOJEO

MOJEO specializes in mapping and improving the processes within your project organization. We can help your organization set up and staff the PMO (Project management office), guide your organization in the transition from Waterfall to Agile/scrum working methods, or set up a coaching program for your project managers.

Interested to hear how MOJEO can make the projects within your organisation manageable? Fill in our contact form and we will get in touch with you!