For this assignment, you will focus on Stakeholder Lessons Learned.? Note that the Lessons Learned process is a signficant part of every project and should always be held, and the result

10 Project Failures and the Lessons Learned

Padraig Friel MBA MScPM IPMA C® CMC® July 19, 2021

The world of project management has changed over the last twenty years to meet the changing demands required by organizations, who are applying leaner operation models with fewer resources, risk adverse, project constraints and restricted budgets to deliver projects. Consequently, the need for management within organizations is to focus on choosing the right projects to add business value, benefits and return on investment is more important now than ever before. Academic and industry research confirms that there is still a high level of project failures across all industry sectors (Average success rates are at 30% while failure rates are at 70% according to Project Management Institute Studies and Standish Reports 2015).

Pinto and Mantel (1990) describe the attempt to gain a more complete understanding of the causes of project failure has been a difficult task for both academic researchers and practitioners. First, the concept of project failure is nebulous. Few people agree on exactly how to define project failure. However, in his research Dunbar (2016) states that the Project Management Failures-Standish Chaos reports (1994-2015) concludes that over the last 20 years the project management field has experienced increasing layers of project management processes, tools, governance, compliance and oversight. Yet these activities and products have done nothing to improve project success rates.

Harold Kerzner (2010) defines projects can be people failures. “Projects do not fail, People Fail”. When projects fail, we seem to go through meticulous pain to identify every cause of failure. A brief list might include:

• End user stakeholders not involved throughout the project

• No stakeholders backing and lack of ownership

• Weak business case

• Corporate goals not understood at lower levels of the organization

• Poor financial estimates

• Unrealistic planning and unclear expectations

• Lack of project resources and experience personnel

• Poor overall project planning

• Budgets are exceeded and out of control

• Missed deadlines and no recovery plan

Friel (2017) identifies poor project performance is at three levels within an organization: Executives, Project Managers and Team members. He summaries ten reasons for project failures:

1. Poorly defined business case and planning

2. Inadequate forecasting of estimates

3. Lack of ongoing senior executive supports

4. Poor communications

5. Insufficient resources

6. Lack of project leadership

7. Scope creep

8. Inadequate stakeholder management

9. Lack of contingency and risk management

10. Unrealistic timelines and budgets

Examples of Project Failures and Lessons Learned

1.Dyson Electric Car

Development of an electric car Project name: The Dyson Date: Oct 2019 Cost: £500M Synopsis: The future of transportation is here to see and it is of course electric! As a result, the development of electric cars has been a growth area for the past ten years and the pace of change continues to grow.

Contributing factors: Lack of upfront due diligence (failure to analyze costs, market competitive landscape, market size, production costs and profit margins). Underestimation of costs. Perfectionism. Focal imbalance (focusing on the product rather than full spectrum of work need to launch a car brand).

2.Great Western Mainline Electrification

UK Project type: Rail infrastructure upgrade Project name: Great Western Mainline electrification project Date: Jan 2020 Cost: £2B cost overrun, plus reduced scope Synopsis: The electrification of the world’s transportation infrastructure is a growing focus in many countries. Electrification allows the energy intensive industry to move to renewable sources of energy and helps contribute to climate action goals.

Contributing factors: Underestimation of complexity. Inadequate planning. Lack of due diligence in estimating. Lack of appropriate Project Management controls, checks and balances.

3.Police Scotland

UK Project type: Policing information management system Project name: i6 Date: Mar 2017 Cost: £200m lost opportunity Synopsis: While I often write about the direct impacts failed projects have on an organization it is also worth remember that each failed project is an investment that failed to yield its intended benefits. The loss of those benefits (the ‘benefits shortfall’ cost) is often a far larger impact than the direct impact of the failed project itself.

Contributing factors: Failure to prototype and maintain regular visibility into the design. Underestimation of complexity. Requirements management failures.

4.World Athletics Championships 2019

Earlier this year, the best athletes in the world flocked to Doha for the World Athletics Championships. They were forced to compete in eerily silent stadiums as the host nation had failed to sell even a fraction of the tickets. The International Association of Athletics Federations has been criticized for placing money before the needs of the sport in what has been a very damaging blow to their public image.

Hopefully, lessons have been learned from this instance. It doesn’t matter how much money a host nation is willing to throw at an event, if there isn’t a homegrown fan base, then they will struggle to fill the seats and provide a memorable experience.

5.The Garden Bridge

The Garden Bridge has been dubbed a failed vanity project, pushed by Boris Johnson when her was the Mayor of London. The project cost £53m in total, despite never actually being built. According to a report, the bridge was over-optimistic both in terms of the fundraising possible and the final cost. This led to a shortfall which could never be overcome, despite surveying work on the riverbed already getting underway.

Ambition is a powerful thing, but it needs to be grounded in reality, particularly when relying on fundraising to get projects off the ground. In retrospect, it would have been wise to establish if the project was feasible before spending £161,000 for a website.

6.The NHS’ Civilian IT Project

The project that aimed to revolutionize the NHS IT systems was a failure that cost the taxpayer somewhere in the region of £10bn. The politically-motivated and top-down nature of the project meant that scope creep and a complete underestimation of the requirements doomed this project from the start.

The government was later criticized for its inability to handle large IT contracts. From this, we can learn that it’s important to consider the size and capabilities of your own organization before taking on an ambitious project.

7.Waterworld

When shooting started for the film Waterworld, the director didn’t yet hold a finalized script. But this wasn’t the only problem to plague the shoot. The project was scheduled for 96 days of shooting, but multiple rewrites led to multiple re-shoots and this time frame was stretched out to 150 days. Making movies isn’t cheap, so this pushed production costs to $135 million over budget.

Controlling the scope of a project is essential, but this can’t be done without a proper plan in place. In the case of a movie, this means signing off the script before shooting can begin.

8.Denver International Airport

Denver International Airport set out to create the most sophisticated luggage handling systems in the world. The project was soon deemed to be far more complex than anyone was anticipating and delayed for 16 months at a cost of $560 m. Large portions of the project had to be “redone” and the project was then scrapped in 2005.

This is a classic example of failing to understand the scope of the project. Ambition can often cloud judgement, and the desire to create something that has never been done before can lead people to push ahead with projects.

9.McDonald's Arch Deluxe Burger

McDonald’s put more than $150 million into advertising—more than it had ever spent on an ad campaign—for its new Arch Deluxe Burger, only to find out its customers weren’t interested in the more grown-up, sophisticated menu option.

Lessons Learned: This is another case that highlights the importance of letting customer data drive product strategy. If McDonald’s had a more accurate picture of what its customers wanted, it could have saved millions in advertising and resources. A great way to stay on top of data is to choose a handful of key metrics to track, make sure your tools can accurately track them in as close to real time as possible, and then always strategize based on the numbers.

10.Crystal Pepsi

Crystal Pepsi was a hit at first, and people were excited about the new version of an old favorite. But people soon lost interest and the novelty wore off, making it impossible for Crystal Pepsi to gain a strong market share.

David Novak was the COO of PepsiCo during the project and didn’t listen when bottlers told him the Crystal Pepsi flavor wasn’t quite right. “I learned there that you have to recognize that when people are bringing up issues, they might be right”.

What Can We Learn from Project Failures?

In real life projects rarely run as planned – it’s a sad but true fact. Failures happen, but they have their positive effects too. They are a source of valuable experience and lessons that help succeed into the future. Every project failure carries with it at least one practical lesson for helping project managers to improve their project management knowledge and skills.

My own learnings from project failures are to focus on asking six specific questions:

1.Whats is the goal of the project

2. List of jobs and people accountability

3. Who is leading the project?

4. People – resources availability

5. What contingency is built into the project

6. A copy of the risk register

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Course Description and Contacts

PJM6180 Project Stakeholder Management Section 01 CRN# 80518 Spring B 2024 – CPS Quarter Graduate, 6-week session 2nd Half [BOS-B-HY] May 20 – June 29, 2024 Location: Hurtig Hall 308 Office Hours: Please email me to set up an appointment. I am typically available in the classroom for an hour prior to class each night.

Instructor Contact Information Instructor: Steve Gomes E-mail: [email protected] Phone Number: N/A If you want to set up a specific meeting time, please send an email and we’ll find a mutually convenient time.

All email communication must be to my NEU Faculty Account (listed above) from YOUR NEU STUDENT account in accordance with University policy. Please contact the IS Help Desk if you need instructions about forwarding your email to another account.

Second Point of Contact

If for any reason you wish to express a concern about anything that may impact your success in a course, first speak directly with your Instructor. If you need additional support, please contact your Academic Advisor or the Principal Instructor below:

Kerri-Ann Williams, DBA, PMP Assistant Teaching Professor, Master of Science in Project Management Northeastern University – College of Professional Studies

[email protected]

Technical Requirements

Courses are available on Northeastern University’s Canvas at the following link: http://canvas.northeastern.edu. Canvas Technical support and resources including 24/7 phone (1-833-450-3937), and chat can be found on the help icon in Canvas. Northeastern Technical support can be accessed at 617-373-4357 (xHELP) or [email protected].

Each student is responsible for his or her access to the internet for purposes of this course and for research. Internet access is a required component of this course and will not be accepted as an excuse for missed work. If you know that you will be traveling, then make sure you plan accordingly.

Note regarding e-mail: If you e-mail, please include your name and class title. Please allow up to 36 hours for an email reply.

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PJM6180 – Course Specific Information

PJM 6180 – Course Description This course offers learners the mechanisms necessary to effectively identify all stakeholders, including the people, groups, or organizations that are impacted or may have an impact on the project. It also examines how to analyze stakeholder expectations and how to develop management strategies for effective stakeholder engagement throughout the project.

Program Learning Outcomes At the end of the MS in Project Management program, students will have the opportunity to develop the knowledge and skill necessary to:

• PLO1: Assess significant challenges involved in managing project scope, risk, quality, schedule, budget, and performance metrics, while effectively communicating with different project stakeholders.

• PLO2: Reflect upon your own cognitive abilities and personal and professional effectiveness competencies that are critical to effectively administer and direct a project in a changing and evolving environment.

• PLO3: Design an effective project plan for leading and managing the implementation of a complex project to meet business goals in a real-world setting, while avoiding common project management pitfalls.

• PLO4: Develop a position on an ethical issue or dilemma that relates to ethical behavior governed by responsibility, respect, fairness, and honesty in the practice of project management.

PJM6180 – Course Prerequisites • None

Course Learning Outcomes Based on satisfactory completion of this course, a student should be able to:

• Develop an approach for stakeholder identification and analysis.

• Integrate best practices, tools, and techniques to identify, analyze, and classify stakeholders.

• Create an appropriate stakeholder strategy and plan based on a thorough analysis of stakeholder needs and expectations.

• Assess stakeholder engagement in your setting and modify stakeholder strategies as needed.

• Interpret the role ethics plays in the process of controlling and managing stakeholder expectations in a project setting.

• Critically analyze the learning experiences, outcomes, materials, personal assumptions, and biases to find meaningful interconnections and form novel perspectives.

• Articulate and apply relevant concepts showing insights and awareness of current topics in stakeholder management

Required Texts • Larson, Erik and Clifford Gray, Project Management 8th ed. McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2020. ISBN: 978-1260238860

Recommended Texts • A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide), 7th ed., 2021, Project Management Institute. ISBN:

978-1628256642PMI®.

Note: The PMBOK® Guide is available in a variety of formats including the hard-copy version listed above. Access to an electronic version (and the practice standards) is also included as a Project Management Institute “member benefit” and can be accessed (and downloaded) from the PMI Website here: http://www.pmi.org/PMBOK-Guide-and-Standards.aspx

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Journal articles / Supplemental Readings The following are REQUIRED materials for PJM6180 (available within Canvas for this course):

• Case Study: Kerzner, Harold, Denver International Airport from Project management: Case studies

• Lesson 1_25 Years of Stakeholder Theory in PM Literature

• Lesson 1_Project Stakeholder Management: Past and Present

• Lesson 2_Planning Project Stakeholder Engagement from a Sustainable Development Perspective

• Lesson 3_Managing Project Stakeholder Communication

• Lesson 4_External Stakeholder Management Strategies and Resources in Megaprojects

• Lesson 4_Response Strategies to Stakeholder Pressures in Global Projects

• Lesson 4_PMI Code of Ethics & Professional Conduct

Required Software The following software is REQUIRED for PJM6180: (Include this section if required for your class)

• Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint

PJM6180 – Class Schedule/Topical Outline

Week Topic Reading Assignments Discussion Topics

1 Intro to Stakeholder Management and Theory

L&G – Chapter 10 (Being an effective PM) Denver International Airport (DIA) Research Articles

No Assignment Due Begin Group Formation

Stakeholder Management

2 Stakeholder Identification & Analysis

PMBOK – Review sections associated with stakeholder management (e.g., 2.1, 2.2, 3.5.1, 3.5.2) Research Articles

Individual: Stakeholder Identification & Analysis Group: Begin Researching a Special Topic

Stakeholder Interviews

3 Plan Stakeholder Management

Research Articles Individual: Stakeholder Management Plan Group: Research Topic Proposal

Managing Stakeholder Expectations

4 Manage & Control Stakeholder Engagement

PMBOK – Review sections associated with stakeholder monitor/control (e.g., 4.2.1, 4.2.3) PMI Code of Ethics Research Articles

No Assignment Due – Begin working on Lessons Learned

Ethics & Stakeholder Management

5 Change Management & Conflict Resolution

PMBOK – Review sections associated with change

No Assignment Due Conflict Management

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management (e.g., 2.4.7, 2.5.7, 4.2.4, 4.2.3)

6 Special Topic & Lessons Learned

No Readings Group: Final Group Presentation Individual: Stakeholder Roles & Lessons Learned

Review other group presentations and respond

Note: Instructor reserves the right to change course syllabus & assignments. The guidance I give you in class or via email will take precedent.

PJM6180 – Grading/Evaluation Standards Your grade will be weighted as follows:

Type Weight Description Points

Discussions / Class Participation

25% Various discussion topics (6 total x 10 points each) 60

Individual Assignments 50% Various assignments (3 total x 100 points each) 300

Group Assignments 25% Group assignments (2 total x 100 points each) 200

Note: You are encouraged to track your progress through the course of the term.

General Course Information

Course Methodology Each week begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, except for the final week, which officially ends on Saturday. Beginning on Monday of each week, you will view lecture materials, read more about the lecture topic in your course text and then you will complete case studies and other assignments where you will have a chance to apply what you have learned.

Each week, you will be expected to:

1. Attend the weekly class meeting 2. Participate in class exercises 3. Complete all assigned readings. 4. Listen to and view all multi-media demonstrations online for the week 5. Complete and submit all individual and group assignments online by the due dates 6. Participate in Discussion Board online as required 7. Complete any weekly quizzes

Course Workload / Expectations

Students are expected to spend approximately 10-15 hours of study time per week on this course, including in class (face-to-face) instructions and self-directed work. The actual hours will vary from student to student, depending on familiarity with the topics covered in class. Class meeting times will vary based on quarter hours and length of class (6-week or 12-week) Below are common examples:

A 6-week 3 qtr. hr. class typically meets once a week for 2-hrs and 40 minutes, and will require 10-15 hours of study per week

Student Competencies Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft Power Point are used throughout. Students are expected to be proficient in the use of these programs.

APA Secenth Edition writing standards are expected in this course.

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Absence Policy

Note to student: If you add this course during the Add/Drop period, contact your instructor immediately to learn how to make up any missed work.

NOTE Attendance Policy for First Class

Because this class meets a limited number of times during the term, if you are enrolled in the class prior to the start of the term, it is important that you be physically present in the classroom to insure your possibility for success in the course. If you do not attend the first class, then you will receive a 10% course grade reduction penalty in accordance with the attendance policy outlined in the syllabus. You should plan your schedule accordingly.

In-person attendance is required for each course meeting. In the event of extraordinary, legitimate, and unavoidable situations, students may be excused for lateness or absence. Extraordinary, legitimate and unavoidable situations include significant personal illness; unavoidable emergencies, urgent family business; and religious requirements, and are subject to validation. Failure to make arrangements for visa clearance and/or travel so as to arrive in the classroom on time after school breaks are not considered valid excuses. Similarly, failure to arrive in the classroom after an “in-term” holiday is not a valid reason for absence.

Students should contact the instructor by e-mail to request an excused absence or explain lateness before class. In any case, you should communicate with the instructor about the absence or lateness as soon as is possible.

• Without proper coordination with the instructor, students with unexcused late arrivals or early departure will be penalized 1% per instance.

• Students who are absent (unexcused) from class will be penalized 10% for the first absence, even if this is not the first class of the term.

• Students with two or more absences will receive a failing grade for the course and dropped from the class at the second absence occurrence.

The decision as to whether the reason presented is a valid “extraordinary, legitimate, and unavoidable situation” and whether or not to grant an excused absence resides with the instructor alone.

Grading Policy Grades are earned not “given and adjusted downward.” You begin the course with zero (0) points and work your way upward based on the quality and content of your submitted work. If you do the minimum work required to meet assignment requirements your resulting grade will be in the “B Range” as shown below. Only work that goes beyond the assignment requirements in terms of content and quality will receive grades in the higher ranges.

Your performance in this course is evaluated independently of the work produced (and the grade received) in other courses.

It is YOUR responsibility to keep track of your progress throughout the course.

Conversion of weighted and rounded numerical to letter grades will be as follows:

Rubric Construct Letter Grade Low High Grade given for

Above Standard

(95 – 100%)

A 95 100 Excellent, thorough work which demonstrates complete command of the material and goes above and beyond the assignment requirements

Meets Standard (Competent)

(84-94.9%)

A- 90 <94.9

Good work which meets the assignment requirements and demonstrates an understanding of the concepts

B+ 87 <89.9

B 84 <86.9

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Approaching Standard

(77-83.9%)

B- 80 <83.9 Average work which meets most assignment requirements and demonstrates an understanding of at least ¾ of the concepts presented in the course C+ 77 <79.9

Below Standard

(70-76.9%)

C 74 <76.9 Poor work which doesn’t meet at least ¾ of the assignment requirements and demonstrates insufficient evidence of a command of the course concepts C- 70 <73.9

Not Evident

(0-69.9%) F 0 <69.9

Does not meet the assignment requirements

The instructor reserves the right to scale grades.

Note that you will not receive the maximum number of points if you fail to be “present” in class (and online) and if you do not submit work that meets minimum standards for written communication as outlined in the writing rubrics and in the course.

Writing Quality Standards You MUST use APA Sixth Edition format for written work, including references.

Written work is graded as per the rubrics and against these general standards.

Sco

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