Page 70 - Straight Talk On Project Management IV

failure at all? Google’s ‘moonshot factory’ X is set up to expedite failure. You tell Astro Teller at X
that his teams are failing he’d probably high five you, hug you and thank you for the compliment.

Sometimes we just set our failure radar wrong. Like when we kick ourselves for gaining weight (that
is muscle and makes us look like a beefcake) or when we berate our team for not hitting
unachievable, illogical and random sales targets that we set for them.
I suppose what I’m saying is, perhaps we should start to question what we consider success to be.
Redefine it in terms that are actually relevant to the climate in which we operate. If time isn’t an
issue, then a project hasn’t failed if it’s delivered a week later than it was due on paper. Is it?

When I look at the repeatedly high failure rates for IT Projects, I do wonder whether we are failing
because we are setting ourselves up to fail.
I always think a fresh look at your whole portfolio helps assess whether you are applying the right
metrics for success and a fresh pair of independent eyes can often see truths that are hidden from
you, working in and on your projects day in, day out.

So, take another look at that failing project but with more objective eyes. What’s the end goal that
you want to achieve? Is the project really failing when measured against this or is it failing based on
criteria that aren’t fit for purpose? Taking a helicopter view and re-evaluating our metrics for success
can have a really positive impact across the portfolio – you may identify resources you can buy in
from the Project Management as a Service market or you may just decide to give yourself a break,
ease the pressure and crack on delivering the business change you set out to achieve.

My metric for success on this article is that it sparks debate, encourages a rethink on what failure
actually is and gives us all some breathing space to allow creative thinking and solutions to flow. I’d
love to hear from you, especially if that failing project could indeed do with a fresh pair of
independent, impartial and objective eyes.