And, It’s not improving.

There are numerous factors and reasons that cause projects to fail; few of these reasons are new and noteworthy.

Today, we have access to endless amounts of information and data. There are countless resources available in bookstores or online that focus on the art of Project Management, courses that teach people how to run a project, or at least how to pass an exam on Project Management.

Equally, there is abundant research conducted and often somewhat unhelpful reports produced on the statistics of failure and high-level reasons why projects fail.

Unfortunately, they do not address the causal problems and what needs to change to move the dial forward as an industry. Depending on which reports you read, some indicate an upwards trend; however, if you look closely at the statistics things appear to be getting worse.

In Feb 2018, PHILADELPHIA–(BUSINESS WIRE)– published an article from The 2018 Pulse of the Profession®, a global survey conducted by Project Management Institute (PMI), revealed around $1 million is wasted every 20 seconds collectively by organisations around the globe due to the ineffective implementation of business strategy through poor project management practices.

The study showed that on average organisations waste 9.9 per cent of every dollar* due to poor project performance. Alarmingly, executive leaders may be out of touch with this reality, as 85 per cent surveyed said they believe their organisations are effective in delivering projects to achieve strategic results.

In the 2020 Pulse of the Profession®, the global average organisations waste is now 11.4 per cent of every dollar* due to poor project performance. The amount of money wasted is increasing!

Furthermore, in the same report showing regional statistics for Australia, this figure is even higher, with an average of  13.4 per cent of every dollar spent wasted due to poor project performance.  While down 0.5 per cent from 2018, this figure it is still alarmingly high.  

Yes, poorly run projects cause completely unnecessary financial wastage, stress and anxiety for the people and companies involved. However, is it the projects themselves or the environments where these projects reside that is causing so much angst and financial loss?

While there have been some improvements, the introduction of more widespread Agile practices is likely to have detrimental effects in the short term unless the causal problems addressed.

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