Could Occam’s Razor Explain Project Failures?
February 13th, 2005 by HalArticle Series - Why Projects Fail
A heavy travel schedule this week provided the opportunity to catch up on loads of reading. Baseline Magazine is a monthly that focuses on IT projects and issues. Executive editor John McCormick wrote Projects Don't Fail, People Do. He says we only need to look to Occam's razor for the answer. Huh? That's what I said. McCormick explains it this way:
"The rule known in scientific and philosophical circles as Occam's razor stipulates that when multiple theories are available to explain a problem, the simplest one is preferred."
Projects don't fail; the people who manage project managers fail.
He uses Occam's razor to answer the question, "Why do projects fail?" He refers to a series of government studies of project failures to conclude that everywhere there is a failure people are at the cause of the failure. He cites:
- Project managers are unprepared for their role.
- Project managers are not professionally trained.
- Project managers don't manage what they are doing.
The general thinking is project management training and certification will go a long way to correcting this. Maybe. I fully agree that people fail not projects. I've stopped looking at the project manager. Why is it we put people in roles for which they are unqualified? Why are we not training our staff? And, what are we doing that we don't notice when project managers are not managing? The simple answer is those who manage and lead project managers are not doing their job.
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March 1st, 2005 at 2:19 pm
Perhaps the Pter principle might add a facet to explaining failures. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle
November 29th, 2005 at 6:34 am
You’ve hit the nail on the head there. Project governance determines outcome. At every point in a project, a conscious decision must be made whether to go ahead, adjust or kill the project. Inability to recognize a significant deviation from plan has already occurred leads to disasters like the Columbia space shuttle.
January 19th, 2006 at 11:19 pm
Occam’s Razor is what wins you the bid! In my industry I have to estimate what it will take to provide a potential client a deliverable. The more complex and detailed your project plan becomes, the more costs that get added to each task. In my industry, this will put you out of work.
Understanding the market and presenting a plan that has a well defined scope is the best approach. If one goes into a project with the ability to adapt, they are better prepared to handle the changes that can occur on a project. PM’s must understand that the “best case scenerio” only works when you have total control of all the outside factors. Allowing for slack and seriously considering outside risks will confort all stakeholders of your project…………
Projects typically fail because the attitudes of the team members declines during those unexpected obstacles. A PM should continually be thinking about Murphy’s Law, and what the team can do to mitigate for those unexpected events……………..
February 25th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Occam’s Razor applies not only to explain what when wrong, but also what should be done. Simply put, the question the owner is asking is ‘How can I get what I pay for in one try?”
The owner is worried about not knowing how all of his decisions shake out. The General can help, but rarely knows the intimate details of all of the trades. Simple–bring the trades in early, and incentivize them to criticize the design so that change orders during construction are minimized.