Possible causes |
Mitigating measures |
| 1. Project goals do not fit in organisational strategy |
Verify that the project is aligned to the organisational strategy. |
| 2. Project does not contribute to organisation |
Every project should have an acceptable ("budgeted") return on investment. This should be clear in a business case accepted and approved by management before the project is initiated. |
| 3. Project organisation is not adequate |
Project organisation should secure organisational involvement, not only on the management level (Steering Group), but also on the lower levels. The way this can be arranged differs per organisation, but the result should be that the end-users of the project deliverables are involved substantially and feel responsible. |
| 4. No communication plan to support the project |
Every project should use a communication plan to make sure that all users and the broader organisation are informed about the project, its goals, and appropriate project updates. The communication plan should analyse the various target groups and make sure that each target group gets the appropriate message. |
| 5. Organisation does not have effective change management processes in place |
Before starting projects, the change capacity of the organisation should be assessed. The project should be managed in-line with this change capacity. Possible weak points should be identified. |
| 6. Organisational culture does not support projects |
Not all organisations are accustomed to dealing with projects. This should be taken into account. If they are experienced with project management, then it should first be assessed how successful they usually are (track record). The project should be defined, taking into account this (or lack of) organisational experience. |
| 7. Dependencies not foreseen |
All projects have dependencies with other projects or change processes in organisations. These dependencies should be defined up front. The planning stage is of critical importance. Also, the deliverables should be carefully verified up front if other projects are going to be produced in line with this project. |
| 8. People are not prepared for the changes created by the project |
People management is one of the important factors in change. There has to be a clear strategy on how to deal with this issue. A clear communication strategy has to be created to deal with the important stakeholders of the change, the target groups of people that have to change, what is going to change, what it means for the people involved, as well as their future work. |
| 9. Hand-over from the project team to the broader organisation is not arranged |
At the end of the project, a planning and methodology to establish the handover to the organisation should be confirmed. There has to be additional support, not only for systems, but also for organisational changes for the first period. |
| 10. Project is not being supervised by senior management |
For most projects, you want a senior project manager at the helm. That person can plan, direct, execute and make key decisions to affect a positive project outcome. That person must also be able to push back, challenge, creatively adjust and gain the respect of senior organisation management and other team leaders. |
