Are Failing Projects Killing Your Business?

SWINDON, U.K. - Nov. 1, 2014 - PRLog -- Every day thousands of people spend hundreds of thousands of hours planning projects.  Many of these projects will go on to fail.  According to research from the Said Business School, Oxford U.K., the average project comes in 30% over budget and 70% later than its agreed schedule, while 1 project in 6 comes in 200% over budget.

There are three reasons why so many projects do so badly, according to Bryan Barrow, a project management consultant and author.  “Projects fail because they lack a clear goal, they lack an integrated plan and the people working on the project tend to work in silos” says Mr. Barrow.  “This means that they have different views of what the project is trying to do and they fail to coordinate activities. The consequences of poor project planning costs companies millions every single year.”

Mr. Barrow wrote “The Project Planning Workshop Handbook” (Thembi Publishing, 2014, available on Amazon) to provide companies with a practical, repeatable formula for planning projects.   The result is credible plans, great teamworking and accurate resource estimates.

Mr. Barrow is a Chartered I.T. Practitioner and a former Chair of the Association for Project Management’s (APM’s) specific interest group on Risk Management.  He travels internationally speaking on Project Management, facilitating conferences and events and delivering seminars and masterclasses.  He offers these seven tips for anyone about to hold a project planning workshop:

1. Invite only those who are essential.
The aim of the workshop should be to plan the project and decide whether it is viable, not as a general communications event.  Only include those responsible for assigning resources and managing interdependencies, such as team leaders and key stakeholders.

2. Focus on the “Why?” before working out the “How?”
The most important part of the workshop is explaining why the project is important and how it links to the business strategy or benefits.  When you have a clear goal it is easier for everyone to understand how to achieve it.

3.  Create a single, integrated plan.
Having a single plan prevents people from thinking or working in silos.  It also helps to promote good team working early on.

4. Use Index Cards, not sticky notes.
Planning with sticky notes takes up too much time and doesn’t deliver sufficient value.  Index cards can convey much more information and they can be printed out in advance.

5. Plan the project in stages, starting from the top down.
“When you create a plan from the top down, one layer at a time the whole team gets to understand the whole plan without being overwhelmed by the detail” says Barrow.

6. Include interdependencies and constraints.
By identifying project interdependencies and constraints at the outset, you prevent these from blocking or derailing the project later on. This is the key to effective resource management, the number one challenge for any organization running multiple concurrent projects.

7. If the project is not achievable, cancel it now.
Sometimes the best outcome from a planning workshop is the recognition that the project cannot be delivered.  Better to deal with this now than pay a high price later.

For a free report on “The Ten Biggest Mistakes People Make When Planning a New Project visit http://bryanbarrow.com/

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About the Author:

Bryan Barrow works with Project Management Office Managers, Programme Managers and senior managers in organisations that need to deliver more of their projects on time and within budget, so that they go on to achieve their strategic objectives.

Bryan is an entertaining speaker, facilitator and conference host with an energetic, confident style. Bryan’s talks are packed with amusing anecdotes that stimulate and educate audiences. Bryan gives honest, straightforward advice in a no-fluff style, backed up by research, observation and experience.
Bryan presents information in a powerful way that energises audiences so that they leave motivated, invigorated and eager to put his ideas into action.

For a review copy of the Project Planning Workshop Handbook or an interview with Bryan Barrow, please contact Mr. Barrow at marketing@bryanbarrow.com or +44 (0)7050 192277.