Comments on: When Do You Kill A Project?

By: Nadja

Nadja — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 15:05:01 +0000

thank you for this detailed and indeed technical discussion about when to kill the project! regards from Europe, Nadja

By: Samuel Prasad

Samuel Prasad — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 02:48:18 +0000

Nicholas Hatwin makes an interesting point about human and political risks. They are usually not discussed in too much detail when we talk about risk management in projects. The reasons are that they are not easily qualifiable nor quantifiable. It involves understanding and identifying the behavior of team members in individual and group settings. It is also dependent on the country and its culture - political and social. It is no surprise that many “offshore” projects fail because the company fails to understand the local culture of the country and the team.

By: Samuel Prasad

Samuel Prasad — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 02:28:24 +0000

My experience with KPIs are quite different than the opinion expressed by Atallah Chamieh. By definition, KPI is a measurable and quantifiable factor that is agreed to beforehand by the team and stakeholders to help measure critical success factors in a project. However, I agree with Atallah that selecting the right KPI is important. One size does not fit all. KPIs once selected are not cast in stone. Based on lessons learned at the end of a project KPIs are modified so that they are able to better measure success factors in future projects.

By: Dave Rochford

Dave Rochford — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 13:13:13 +0000

Great article. I believe that projects should have more rigorous measurement. Techniques like earned value analysis are also useful and more time spent on demand, benefit and revenue forecasting and baseline measurement up front would enable projects to have a better chance of success

By: Atallah chamieh

Atallah chamieh — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 02:44:23 +0000

Using the KPIs in project management is not a good idea.

In practice, overseeing KPIs can prove expensive or difficult for organizations. Some such as staff morale may be impossible to quantify.

Another serious issue in practice is that once a KPI is created, it becomes difficult to adjust to changing needs as historical comparisons will be lost. Conversely a dubious KPI is often created because history does exist.

Furthermore if a KPI is based only on in-house practices it may be difficult for an organization to compare with similar organisations yet often, business with a similar background are used as a benchmark for KPIs.

Analyst must be aware that a KPI may be a rough guide rather than a precise benchmark.

By: Nicholas Hawtin

Nicholas Hawtin — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 08:03:58 +0000

The scorecard looks good. Defined parameters defintely help you make the decision.

The intangibles, however, are much harder to define. Different stakeholders may have conflicting interests. Sales may be relying on the project to hit their goals. Others may have similar reasons for wanting to prolong the project, which have nothing to do with the project’s purpose or its likelihood of success.

How do we measure the human or political risk in the project? How does the organization deal with failed projects, for example? Does it learn lessons or fire project team members? What effect do factors like these play?

By: Brad Egeland

Brad Egeland — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 02:07:33 +0000

Good article. I agree, it’s never easy to kill a project. It’s usually the customer who pulls the plug because the delivery team usually tries to go down with the ship. But either way it does happen and it’s usually justified.

Though I’m a little confused on the ‘unresolved issues vs. deliverables’ one, I like your scorecard method. Nice way to make it somewhat quantifiable. Again, thanks for the article…nice read.

——–
Brad Egeland
IT/Project Management Consultant
email: brad@bradegeland.com
website: http://www.bradegeland.com
Project Mgmt articles: http://www.pmtips.net/author/brad/