Why do so many projects fail?

The BBC’s Digital Media Initiative running £100m over budget. The UK Department for Transport having to reverse the sale of the West Coast rail franchise. G4S not providing enough trained security guards for the Olympics. Why did these high-profile projects fail?

Prof Eddie Obeng with a real-life qubot, a
QUBE avatar. Eddie is the one on the left.

“Despite having all the resources behind them, projects can still go wrong if you have the wrong mindset,” says Prof Eddie Obeng of Pentacle the Virtual Business School, winner of the Association for Project Management’s lifetime achievement award. “One reason is that if things go wrong, you look like a hero for fixing them. Conversely, if you deal with a problem before it happens, you get no credit. So often there’s little incentive to make sure in advance that everything goes smoothly.

“Another reason is that there are different types of project. Some times you know right from the start how the whole thing is going to unfold, but modern projects are often very unclear and a lot can change over the course of implementation. If the project manager doesn't know the right tricks, leadership and tools to use, then the whole venture can very easily go off the rails.”

To combat this, Prof Obeng and the APM are joining forces to host Conference: Zero, a one-day event promoting a zero tolerance approach to failure. Speakers will include people who have delivered perfect projects in global sporting events, digital broadcasting, banking and academia.

A crowd gathered on QUBE

Zero is being held entirely on QUBE, Pentacle’s virtual learning environment, so anyone anywhere in the world can join without having to worry about travel or accommodation. The conference is on Thursday 17^th October, and runs from 07.00 to 19.00 (UK time - click here to see when this will be in your time zone), so participants can choose when to attend. Anyone interested can find out more and register at http://PentacleTheVBS.com/Zero.htm