4 Major Underlying Potential Failure Points For Projects

1.     Communication. 

As understood while preparing for the PMP and Scrum Master Certification- the project manager's primary responsibility is communication. 

Any project that isn't properly planned and executed in terms of communication is certain to fail. The project manager should be the focal point for all project communication, and it's great if you have a strategy in place – even if it's not a formal one. At the very least, you should have something that gives all key stakeholders contact information (email, phone, Skype, etc. ), identifies when and where all key ongoing regular project meetings will take place (and who should attend), how project status reporting will take place, and how adhoc project communication should take place. It's all about creating goals and sticking to them - which is essentially the notion underlying excellent project management.

2.     Resource availability. 

The availability of resources is always crucial. This applies to both sides of the project, but I'll focus on the delivery organization/project team for this item because I'll be discussing the client next. The availability of resources is critical to a project's long-term success. Imagine working nonstop on your project and discovering unexpectedly – and without notice – that your tech lead will be unavailable for the next month.It happened to me. Her boss knew...she felt I knew, despite the fact that we had made no plans to share project knowledge, which should have been a red signal for her to shout from the rooftops. As understood while preparing for the PMP and Scrum Master Certification- the trick is to remain on top of it by evaluating and re-forecasting your resource utilisation on a regular basis (at least weekly) and ensuring that all key stakeholders have access to this information. Don't allow what happened to me happen to you.

3.     Customer engagement. 

The availability of customers is equally as vital as the availability of project team members. You'll need the customer to be available on a regular basis for information, queries, and decision-making on needs and business processes. The absence of a customer can result in important tasks being moved forward based on incorrect assumptions or requirements that are misinterpreted. Maintain client engagement by establishing clear expectations from the beginning and keeping them informed through frequent status meetings and work assignments.

4.     Decision making failure points.          

Decisions must frequently be made on the moment with incomplete information or feedback from critical stakeholders. You attempt to avoid these circumstances as much as possible, yet they still happen. I hesitate to label them terrible judgments because even excellent decisions can lead to project failure when they appear to be good based on what we knew at the time and the individuals and information we had at our disposal. It's possible that we won't have access to the appropriate information until after we've made the decision...and made the mistake...and discovered that...oh, that was a horrible decision. That is why client involvement, availability of key stakeholders, and team resource availability are all critical. These people are frequently crucial to excellent decision-making.

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