Why do projects go wrong #9

Little attention is made to breaking project into manageable steps.

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. You break your project down into bite size chunks. Many projects go wrong because insufficient effort is given in the early stages to break it down into manageable steps, such that your project soon becomes unmanageable.

Any attempt to eat an elephant in one sitting is likely to result in severe indigestion. You will need to separate out a good number of the cuts and joints and put in the deep freezer until later. Some of the tougher parts should be tenderised, or left to marinade, to make more appetising. A varied menu of appealing meals can be planned that will be far more digestible than a single overindulgent feast. The menu will involve choice cuts, stews, casseroles and pies providing culinary delights to stimulate the palate, until the whole elephant is consumed.

The same is true of a project.

The project management tasks will need to be broken down into stages. Some later stages will be put into a freezer to be dealt with in detail later. Earlier project stages will be broken down into detail and planned out meticulously with all the right support resources put in place. Some tasks will need some additional effort to soften them to succeed. Careful thought will need to be placed on dependencies, interdependencies, sequences and resource allocation to ensure that each and every meal is tasty, nourishing and diners leave nothing on their plates.

A well planned PBS (product breakdown structure) tailored to suit the complexities and nature of the project is needed to sit above individual WBS (work breakdown structures) for separate work packages for each stage.

Projects go wrong because they have not been broken down into manageable steps, so like any carefully prepared gourmet meal, slice and dice your ingredients well, marinade and stew to achieve succulent perfection.

Bon appetit !

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Other posts in this series

• Why do projects go wrong #1 - misunderstanding of what a project is
• Why do projects go wrong #2 - no common understanding of purpose
• Why do projects go wrong #3 - lack of leadership
• Why do projects go wrong #4 - inappropriate transfer of risk
• Why do projects go wrong #5 - scope creep
• Why do projects go wrong #6 - overly optimistic budgets
• Why do projects go wrong #7 - lack of agreed success criteria
• Why do projects go wrong #8 - lack of effective communication