Managing Troubled Projects

Summary

This best practice offers guidelines on managing, recovering, and preventing troubled projects. 

How to recognize a troubled project

A project should not be classified as "troubled" if the question is a matter of "How to finish quickly" or "How to catch up."  A troubled project is one in which the project is in reasonable danger of even being completed at all, at least within an acceptable timeline or cost. Moreover, if a project has a 50% or greater chance of failure, author and noted software guru Edward Yourdon classifies such a project as a "death march." Clearly, troubled projects need special attention, and "death march" projects often require drastic action.

Common characteristics of a failing project include:

• Vague, unclear objectives
• Lack of executive sponsorship
• A project team with no idea when the project will finish
• Excessive number of product defects
• Team members who are working an excessive amount of hours
• Management who cannot ascertain the project’s status
• Loss of customer confidence
• Project team is defensive regarding progress
• Relations between development and other organizational units are strained
• Team moral is low