Do project managers talk about project failure? #pmot
December 15, 2009 @ How to Manage a Camel - Project Management and Recruitment from lindsayascott
Much has been reported about how many projects fail* and the reasons why projects fail and that got me thinking – when was the last time you met a project manager who failed? In all my seven years of working in project management recruitment, I’ve never even seen a CV from a project manager who failed, so where are they all, these project managers that are or have managed failed projects? Is there a special group – “Projects Anonymous” – where they all gather together, each taking it in turn to share their story?
On a serious note, do project managers actually talk about project failure? Isn’t there much to share with the project community that goes beyond just talking about best practice and using governance to ensure project failure rates are lowered. Isn’t there value in open and honest conversations, sharing of real life situations that business books don’t even begin to cover? As mentioned before, not one of the thousands of CV’s I’ve seen in seven years mentions a project that failed. Does that mean that organisations are willing to employ only project managers that succeed? We know that project failure rate is high (about 75% of projects fail, Garner statistic) so statistically that means at some point in their career, this new superstar all succeeding project manager will fail at some point. The question to ask is how equipped will they be, to deal with this new phenomena of failure?
The reality is that people choose to avoid mentioning the failures in their careers and project managers are no exception, but I wanted to understand more about how project managers perceive their project failure. In this years 5th annual project management report we have a specific section on project failure and ask project professionals their thoughts on areas such as how to discuss project failure in interviews and what, in their opinion was the reason for failure.
> To take part and add your opinion, visit the report now
It only takes 4-8 minutes and you’ll receive the entire report (including salary benchmarking information) for free in the new year
*Just some of the reported project failure pieces;
> OGC – Common Causes of Project Failure
> The Chartered Institute for IT – A Study on Project Failure
> The original Standish Report on Project Failure from 1995
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