Project Management, as a distinct discipline with its own methodology and language, has evolved over the last 20 years from earlier concepts such as logistics programming and manufacturing scheduling.

Today, when faced with a requirement or desire to effect change to an organisation, structured projects are the default approach to defining and delivering benefits.

But a frank assessment of the discipline of Project Management must recognise that it frequently fails to deliver the promised results.

Particularly when Information Technology forms an element of a project, as many as three in four projects fail to deliver. The reasons for this unpleasant state of affairs are well known, yet still repeated.

When implementing a programme of change, executive management is opposing the collective will of every member of the organisation operating within the current processes and systems, even where that opposition is unconscious. Fighting against this inertia is a tough proposition.

Project leaders appointed from within an organisation are particularly vulnerable to pressure to maintain the status quo. Such resistance ultimately leads to loss of morale and thus ineffective leadership.

Project leaders appointed from within an organisation are particularly vulnerable to pressure to maintain the status quo. Such resistance leads to loss of morale and thus ineffective leadership.

Selecting leaders from the realm of management consultancy - rooted in academic theory and narrow transactional practice - will result in a surfeit of day-to-day pragmatism and political acument. Lacking the ability to persuade or negotiate with stakeholders from a position of authority, projects led in this fashon rsisk collapse into disputes over contractual obligations and change management.

Both internal managers and traditional strategic consultants are highly vulnerable to peer pressure, and the lure of group consensus. Giving in to such impulses can only lead to the unconscious sabotage of their leadership function and then to project failure.

And yet change must happen. Every senior executive is faced with myriad external pressures – economic, regulatory and technological - that mandate the need to successfully deliver new capabilities and optimised ways of working

Apply the Xrisk Philosophy to your project. Complete our free audit now. 

What guarantee of delivery can your Project Manager offer?