🚨 Why 70% of Projects Fail—And How to Fix It (Spoiler: Stop Doing Dumb Stuff) 🚨

We’ve all seen the headline: “70% of projects fail!” It’s the industry statistic that never gets old, like a manager scheduling a “quick sync” that lasts an hour.

But what if I told you that most projects don’t explode? They just… sink slowly. And we all stand on the deck, smiling and waving, as the water rises. 🛳️

Let’s break down the usual suspects and how to actually fix them.

1. Scope Creep: The Silent Ambush

The Problem: Scope creep isn’t a surprise attack; it’s death by a thousand “just one more thing”s. It’s the stakeholder who says, “Since you’re already building a toaster, can it also scan my fingerprints and file my taxes?”

The “Fix” (That Doesn’t Work): Saying “No” and being called “not a team player.”

The REAL Fix:

• The Change Request (Your New Best Friend): Every change has a cost. Formalize it. Suddenly, that “tiny tweak” isn’t so urgent when it requires an approval signature and documentation explaining the full effect on the project.

2. Poor Communication: The Game of Telephone Gone Wrong

The Problem: We confuse sending information with communicating. A 500-word email and a Jira update are not a strategy. They’re a cry for help.

The “Fix” (That Doesn’t Work): Adding more meetings. Please, no. We have families.

The REAL Fix:

• The One-Sentence Status: If you can’t explain what you did this week in one sentence, you didn’t do anything meaningful. Try it.

3. Lack of Stakeholder Alignment: The Unseen Iceberg

The Problem: The CEO wants speed. The CFO wants cost-saving. The sales team wants every feature under the sun. You’re in the middle, trying to build a product while they play tug-of-war with your roadmap.

The “Fix” (That Doesn’t Work): A 50-page project charter that no one reads.

The REAL Fix:

• The “One Page” Rule: Condense the project’s goal, success metrics, and top risks onto a single page. If it doesn’t fit, it’s not clear.
• The Pre-Mortem: At the very start, ask: “It’s one year from now. Our project failed spectacularly. Why?” You’ll uncover the real risks before you’ve written a single line of code.

💥 The Bottom Line

Project failure isn’t about bad luck. It’s about bad habits. We reward firefighters instead of fire preventers. We celebrate busywork instead of outcomes.

Stop managing tasks. Start leading outcomes.

💬 Let’s Get Real (The Comment Section is Open):

1️⃣ What’s the most absurd scope creep request you’ve ever gotten? (My favorite: “Can we make it pop more?”)
2️⃣ Which of these failure points is the hardest to fix in your organization?

👇 Drop your horror stories and hard-won wisdom below.

#ProjectManagement #Leadership #ScopeCreep #FailedProjects #BusinessStrategy #LessonsLearned #thepmleader

＼ Get the latest news ／