It has often been said that there is nothing “common” about common sense. Nowhere have I found that truer than in the area of project management. The intent of this series of blogs is to explore some of the more common subjective reasons why some projects succeed and some fail. I believe that there are some very important hallmarks of a successful project that are often undervalued because they deal with some of the more subjective aspects of leadership.

There are many factors that differentiate a successful IT project from a mediocre one. Surprisingly, unsuccessful IT projects more often result from not following some simple “common sense” principles of leadership rather than not using the correct project management methodology or because the technology being implemented is too difficult. I don’t want to discount the benefit of all the new project management methodologies and processes available today, and their importance to a project. However, I believe that there are other intrinsic factors critical to the successful execution of a project that while being more subjective, are every bit as important as some of the more quantified aspects of project management.

My opinion is based on 34 years of working on a variety of technical projects, both as a participating team member and as the project manager. I admit that many of the important lessons that I have learned about project management stem from having done it wrong and learning from the experience. (i.e. good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment). I’ve worked on some extremely successful projects as well as participated in a few “death marches”. Through these experiences, I discovered some traits that were often present in the successful projects and absent from the unsuccessful ones. It is these successful traits that I want to explore further.

While there are many facets to these “success traits”, they all have at their core a basic understanding of human nature. Over the years, I have encountered some extremely smart people that while capable of keeping up with the ever increasing tempo of technological change, are clueless about what motivates and demotivates people. They appear to be unaware of the negative consequences of their leadership style and their impact on the project, and then wonder why their project is performing so poorly. It is like having a new car with a powerful engine and insisting on driving with the parking brake on, and then complaining that the car doesn’t perform as promised. I have actually had conversations with people that when I pointed out the “parking brake” in their situation, they were surprised that it would have an impact on their project.

I have never met a technology professional whose goal it was to do a bad job. Everyone wants to be successful and feel good about what they do. While sometimes people are miscast in their role on a project, too many times it is a culmination of these subjective factors that lead to poor project performance, not lack of talent on the individual’s part.

The following are four areas that have played a critical role in the successful projects that I have been part of over the years, and that I will be exploring in subsequent postings.

1. Enlightened “people” management and strong project leadership.

2. Adequate communications with BOTH the customer and the project team

3. Understanding the customer and how to determine their “real” requirements.

4. Risk analysis/avoidance (i.e. how to prepare for things going “bump” in the night”