Apart from that, great post.

Cheers,

Shim.

A resource of seasoned folks would be a fabulous place for new PMs to turn!

This step, will help people not about Project Management is, but, the “Management” as a major role and how to think and act as a Manager.

Of course, I’ll not dive deep into the topic, just some knowledge from here and there related to the topic.

So, what do you think about that?

There are a lot of people out there who need this help. It’s most important that people don’t feel embarrassed about asking for advice: only an idiot believes he knows everything.

The essence of having FTPM is to encourage new project managers to ask, learn, and interact with PMOT

Please let me know should you need any help,

Thanks

I’m all about helping new project managers. Let’s do it!

Josh
pmStudent.com

I actually argue that the number of failures would be much higher if not for the heroics of great PMs and people working on these efforts. I for one, am tired of squeezing blood from a rock. This is why I am in line with Michael Krigsman in his question to understand the organizational, culturally and behavioral problems that exist in Enterprises today that contribute greatly to project failure rates.

Steve Romero, IT Governance Evangelist
http://community.ca.com/blogs/theitgovernanceevangelist/

First, you cite wonder in regard to the Standish report in your reply below to Michel. I was interviewed on just that subject after the report was released under the headline “First increase in project failures in a decade.” The reporter wanted to know how this could be? She pointed out (and I agreed) that as a discipline, Project Management is more mature than ever and there are more accredited PM professionals than ever. So how could failures increase? I gave my answer to that question in my initial comment to your blog post.

Now to your reply to my comments. YES, methodology matters. I am a HUGE believer in methodologyy and a bigger believer in process (good process – which is unlike most bad process out there today). So I agree with the spirit of you blog and your desire to help new project managers (who may indeed be contributing to project failures).

My latest blog post actually addresses what I believe to be common mistakes PMs make http://bit.ly/cSrqdd. (It is serendipidous – given I rarely speak on the day-to-day machinations of project management and the same week I delve into the subject, I happen upon your PM-focused blog.)

I am looking forward to participating in the great conversations I am certain you will inspire.

Steve Romero, IT Governance Evangelist
http://community.ca.com/blogs/theitgovernanceevangelist/

Once upon the time there was a great wise old man that all the people were asking him “how could you become such a wise man?” he used to answer “I had an unwise friend whom I was closely observing, and I used to do the opposite of what he was doing”

Moral of the story is that we need to know understand why projects fail to control and avoid these failure and reasons, like I wrote above, I am not trying to look at the empty half only, however I also give advises and tips in order to avoid the failure..

The problem is that people always avoid speaking about failures, I can think of interviews here, but first thing is to identify the root causes and seek a solution..

I am just wondering why the Standish group chaos report has been there for years and the situation is not too much different..

I agree, doing the right things is much more important than doing things right, for example if a company embarks on a new project that has been studied and went through a proper feasibility study that ideally should address technology, finance, market viability, operational readiness, etc. and if the project fails in this case it must have failed due to either improper portfolio or a problem in the project, if project management is the main reason of failure, then the company can simply re-initiate the project or put it in hold, the good thing is that the project is not fully dead as long as it is the RIGHT thing to be done..

Like Covey is saying “Leadership is working on the system, Management is working within the system”, having said that the project manager can simply get the project and starts to manage it and deliver it but it may result in a valueless service/product and would be deemed as a failure.

I know that the problem many be with portfolio rather than project management, but as you know methodology matters!

Regards,
Raghavendra Kulkarni
http://twitter.com/rdkulkarni

I wonder if focusing so much on project failures is the best approach.

Why wouldn’t you instead speak of how a FTPM can lead projects to successes? Same pitfalls to avoid and good practices to apply, just a different positive tone for the posts.

Michel.

I did see the latest Standish report and I wrote a blog post on the topic because I think their results were misleading (understating the failure rates) http://bit.ly/cySPyQ.

I speak almost every week on the topics of IT Governance, Project and Portfolio Management (PPM) and PMOs. I begin the latter two presentations with two slides describing the problems plaguing organizations today. The last (but foremost) problem I describe is project failure rates.

I then go on to describe what I believe to be the two dimensions to solving these problems and reducing project failure rates: “Doing the right things” and “Doing things right” The former is a cute way to describe PPM and the latter is a cute way to describe execution (including PMOs and PMs).

I then acknowledge that almost every organization attempting to solve the problems attacks the latter – Doing things right. They insist they need better PMs or more PMI PMPs. They insist they need better project management methodology. They insist they need a PMO. “Oh, we have a PMO? Then we need to get rid of the PMO!”

I actually believe the execution side of the equation is keeping the project failure rate from being higher. I adamantly argue the problem seldom lays with PMs, rather it is the lack of sound project governance and PPM processes – dooming many projects before they even begin.

I applaud the great intentions of your post and your desire to help FTPMs be successful. I am sure your blog will help FTMPs and I wish you all the best in your efforts. I just want to temper my well wishes with the belief that you will be very limited in your ability to stem the tide of project failures. I believe the answer lies with better PPM.

Steve Romero, IT Governance Evangelist
http://community.ca.com/blogs/theitgovernanceevangelist/

Thanks