Make Sure Your Projects Succeed

Cassandra, a beauty from Greek mythology, was granted the gift of prophecy from Apollo, who loved her. But when she spurned him, he cursed her: Although Cassandra could foresee future events, nobody would believe her predictions.

Corporate training company VitalSmarts recently surveyed 589 project managers and found that they suffer from a syndrome reminiscent of Cassandra's curse: They see what's coming but can't convince others to act in a way that will avoid negative results. These project managers are the first to know when their projects are in trouble, but their warnings are rarely heeded.

We first asked them to focus on a past project that had failed to meet its budget, schedule or deliverables. Nine out of 10 said they knew before the project was half completed that it was destined to fail. Nine out of 10 also said they weren't the only ones who knew. They indicated that several, most or all of the team members knew in advance that the project was doomed.

So were these failures inevitable? The project managers didn't think so. Eighty-one percent said there was a key decision-maker who could've gotten the project back on track. But 15 percent said that decision-maker was "impossible" to approach, and 66 percent described the decision-maker as either "very difficult" or "difficult" to approach. As a result, only 10 percent of project managers approached the decision-maker and successfully resolved project issues. Seventy-two percent approached the decision-maker without success.

What's more, the Cassandra curse isn't just a phenomenon viewed with 20/20 hindsight. Among the project managers polled, 92 percent said they currently work on projects that are unlikely to be successful, and 81 percent have already concluded that they won't be able to convince key decision-makers to take the steps required to bring their projects back on course. More than three-quarters of the project managers admit they won't even try to convince those decision-makers.

More than three-quarters of the project managers surveyed described their projects as "slow-motion train wrecks." Anticipating the inevitable crash leads many to experience the following:

• Stress and tension at work (63 percent)

• Frustration and anger (60 percent)

• Wasted time and unnecessary work (57 percent)

• Undermined respect for managers and leaders (55 percent)

• Angry outbursts/shouting matches at work (46 percent)

• Thoughts of quitting (44 percent)

• Longer hours or evening and weekend work (34 percent)

• Lost sleep (34 percent)

• Time away from their families (31 percent)