Successful project management: 11 golden rules from ADVASO

Sad figures from reality

What makes successful project management?
Successful projects are an elementary and at the same time critical component in the implementation of corporate strategy. Programs and projects often fail due to mundane misunderstandings, a lack of organization and communication.

Project failure is a major problem in all industries, and several statistics illustrate the extent of this problem:

Common causes of failure:

1. High overall failure rate: Around 70% of projects do not achieve their objectives, which is often due to inadequate project management. This figure underlines the importance of effective project management in reducing the failure rate.
2. Changing priorities: 40% of projects fail because priorities shift within the organization.
3. Inaccurate requirements: 38% of failures are attributed to inaccurate requirements recording.
4. Poor communication: 30% of projects fail due to inadequate communication between those involved.
5. IT project specifics: The failure rate for IT projects is between 5% and 15% due to inadequate specifics. It is particularly noteworthy that 17% of IT projects fail so badly that they jeopardize the existence of the company.
6. Lack of suitable tools and processes: Only 22% of companies use project management software, even though 77% of successful projects use such tools. Many companies still rely on inadequate planning tools such as Excel and PowerPoint.

7. Resource management issues: Poor resource management is cited as the biggest challenge, affecting 60% of projects. These include inadequate resource forecasting and reliance on limited available resources.

These statistics highlight how important it is for companies to implement sound project management methodologies, invest in appropriate tools and ensure effective communication and stakeholder engagement to minimize the risk of project failure.

(Sources: TeamStage, Project Management Works, FounderJar, ProProfs PM)

Eleven points that can make the difference between success and failure.

A short checklist of critical success factors for your project:

1. Planning is everything. Before you start: Have the requirements been precisely defined and agreed with everyone involved? Do you have suitable planning, reporting and collaboration tools? Do you have a high-level sponsor? Have the required resources been carefully selected and are they available?
2. All projects should be aligned with the corporate strategy. Do you manage your project portfolio via a PMO (project management office)?
3. Maximizing the success of the company. Do you use measurable results to check whether your projects have a positive impact on the company’s success?
4. Increasing efficiency through processes and methods. Do you apply company standards and guidelines that are subject to a continuous improvement process?
5. Fast decisions and quick implementation. Do you manage a PMO with appropriate decision-making and implementation competence?
6. Maximizing project throughput. Do you stringently monitor and shorten your project lead times and gain a market advantage?
7. Optimizing the use of resources. Do you use a special tool to distribute and manage your existing resources, especially scarce resources, across all programs and projects?
8. Successful project completion. Do you successfully complete your projects and do you have the necessary transparency regarding the degree of target achievement at all times during the entire duration?
9. Increasing the maturity level of project management in the company. Are your projects subject to a continuous improvement process and does the quality increase from project to project?
10. Minimization of deadline, cost and expense overruns. Do you support your project managers with further training and methodological skills?
11. Minimization of project risks. Have you implemented the concept of “lessons learned” and are you continuously strengthening risk management in your projects?

If you have answered “no” more than twice, then you run the risk of your project failing to meet the specified targets in terms of time, budget and quality.

ADVASO helps you to successfully implement your (strategic) projects. Should one of your projects threaten to fail, ADVASO specializes in rescuing ailing projects. You can find some examples of this in our references on the website(https://advaso.com/referenzen/).

Further interesting links on this topic:

Project Management Institute