Project Failure Case Studies
-
Lack of user involvement - Mars Rover Project - Counting NASA as the user [X] Long or unrealistic Time Scales - TAURUS [X] Poor or no requirements - Using a personal example (Hope he accepts it...) [X] Scope Creep - (Using TAURUS as my study) [ ] No change control system - Need to find something!! ;-; [X] Poor testing - HM Revenue and Customs If anybody is willing to help me locate some case studies which are of UK projects I would be most grateful, the materials provided by the class are of mostly non UK projects, which is 'slightly' stupid as he wants UK examples... I've tried googling, but all I can find is 200 PDFs of why projects fail and US examples, nothing which is really applicable ;-;
One more: - Team - incompetent, not trained, over-dependence on search-engine results :-). For case studies, not sure whether companies / corporates will ever make public their internal project reports (including failed ones). A dated (1996) book where several case studies are presented is "Rapid Development" by Steve McConnell. Though dated, some of these case studies are still relevant, and independent of country (can happen in US, UK, anywhere). You can read some case studies in the Amazon preview.
-
Lack of user involvement - Mars Rover Project - Counting NASA as the user [X] Long or unrealistic Time Scales - TAURUS [X] Poor or no requirements - Using a personal example (Hope he accepts it...) [X] Scope Creep - (Using TAURUS as my study) [ ] No change control system - Need to find something!! ;-; [X] Poor testing - HM Revenue and Customs If anybody is willing to help me locate some case studies which are of UK projects I would be most grateful, the materials provided by the class are of mostly non UK projects, which is 'slightly' stupid as he wants UK examples... I've tried googling, but all I can find is 200 PDFs of why projects fail and US examples, nothing which is really applicable ;-;
Project methodologies are all fine and dandy however we know that they rarely get used, as they are meant to be used, because the world is far to complex to be encapsulated into a project methodology. The two principle causes of failure that I have seen for IT projects are: (1)No experience in previously implementing IT projects - combined with too much pride to admit to this. (2)Not learning from experience of previous projects - again pride in not owning up to previous failures and not taking corrective action. These two sum up what I consider to make successful projects - you can study as many project methodologies and design patterns as you want. However you will make mistakes and keep making them if you do not learn why you made those mistakes and change your behaviour based on this experience. A good project manager will be able to assess the competency of their team and will be able to factor in extra time for the mistakes that will be caused by the unexperienced team members.
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
-
Lack of user involvement - Mars Rover Project - Counting NASA as the user [X] Long or unrealistic Time Scales - TAURUS [X] Poor or no requirements - Using a personal example (Hope he accepts it...) [X] Scope Creep - (Using TAURUS as my study) [ ] No change control system - Need to find something!! ;-; [X] Poor testing - HM Revenue and Customs If anybody is willing to help me locate some case studies which are of UK projects I would be most grateful, the materials provided by the class are of mostly non UK projects, which is 'slightly' stupid as he wants UK examples... I've tried googling, but all I can find is 200 PDFs of why projects fail and US examples, nothing which is really applicable ;-;
Start with these headings: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_failed_and_overbudget_custom_software_projects[^] http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/02/16/whitehall_it_projects_lose_millions_pounds_/[^] Doesn't seem to matter which country - the failed projects all similar. The reason I would add is: "Project oversold by snake-oil vendor"
Peter Wasser "The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell
-
Lack of user involvement - Mars Rover Project - Counting NASA as the user [X] Long or unrealistic Time Scales - TAURUS [X] Poor or no requirements - Using a personal example (Hope he accepts it...) [X] Scope Creep - (Using TAURUS as my study) [ ] No change control system - Need to find something!! ;-; [X] Poor testing - HM Revenue and Customs If anybody is willing to help me locate some case studies which are of UK projects I would be most grateful, the materials provided by the class are of mostly non UK projects, which is 'slightly' stupid as he wants UK examples... I've tried googling, but all I can find is 200 PDFs of why projects fail and US examples, nothing which is really applicable ;-;
Google for failed government IT projects and you'll get no end of leads http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/aug/19/costly-trail-british-government-it-disasters-universal-credit[^] Any IT firm that accepts government work just treats it as a blank cheque and invariably ends up taking the Mickey. Add to this the fact that the government doesn't contact firms direct, it hires consultants who sub-contract to other consultants who find software firms who then sub-contract the work to other firms. Between government and coder are 4 or 5 firms, all taking a cut as the work passes its way down. I've never worked in the public sector myself but I did once work on a government project and it's an eye opener. The waste and mismanagement is unbelievable, and trying to deal with public service workers is like trying to get blood from a stone. The project ran for years, cost hundreds of millions and was live for about a month before it was replaced by something else. No doubt that "something else" had also ran for years, cost millions and millions....
-
Add "MOD" to your search query - that's where the real horror stories live... see ComputerWeekly[^]
-
Lack of user involvement - Mars Rover Project - Counting NASA as the user [X] Long or unrealistic Time Scales - TAURUS [X] Poor or no requirements - Using a personal example (Hope he accepts it...) [X] Scope Creep - (Using TAURUS as my study) [ ] No change control system - Need to find something!! ;-; [X] Poor testing - HM Revenue and Customs If anybody is willing to help me locate some case studies which are of UK projects I would be most grateful, the materials provided by the class are of mostly non UK projects, which is 'slightly' stupid as he wants UK examples... I've tried googling, but all I can find is 200 PDFs of why projects fail and US examples, nothing which is really applicable ;-;
-
Department of Health and individual health trusts can top anything in your wildest imaginings.
You mean like:- * NHS suspends hospital booking system 2 days after launch[^] Still - the private sector is keeping up with the chaos: * RBS customersdenied 600000 payments due to IT glitch[^]
-
You mean like:- * NHS suspends hospital booking system 2 days after launch[^] Still - the private sector is keeping up with the chaos: * RBS customersdenied 600000 payments due to IT glitch[^]
-
Start with these headings: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_failed_and_overbudget_custom_software_projects[^] http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/02/16/whitehall_it_projects_lose_millions_pounds_/[^] Doesn't seem to matter which country - the failed projects all similar. The reason I would add is: "Project oversold by snake-oil vendor"
Peter Wasser "The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell
Shamefully it seems to matter to the teacher which is the ball-ache, Just got in lesson with him now so going to speak to him, hopefully he might be able to shed more light onto it.. Hopefully, but I have doubts as to him helping with it...
-
Lack of user involvement - Mars Rover Project - Counting NASA as the user [X] Long or unrealistic Time Scales - TAURUS [X] Poor or no requirements - Using a personal example (Hope he accepts it...) [X] Scope Creep - (Using TAURUS as my study) [ ] No change control system - Need to find something!! ;-; [X] Poor testing - HM Revenue and Customs If anybody is willing to help me locate some case studies which are of UK projects I would be most grateful, the materials provided by the class are of mostly non UK projects, which is 'slightly' stupid as he wants UK examples... I've tried googling, but all I can find is 200 PDFs of why projects fail and US examples, nothing which is really applicable ;-;
Thanks for the replies and the help so far! Updated OP with my current progress, hopefully one more to go! UPDATE: THE UNIT TEACHER SCREWED UP SAYING WHAT HE REQUIRED!!!!111!!! Okay, time to adjust this whole darn thing then...
-
One more: - Team - incompetent, not trained, over-dependence on search-engine results :-). For case studies, not sure whether companies / corporates will ever make public their internal project reports (including failed ones). A dated (1996) book where several case studies are presented is "Rapid Development" by Steve McConnell. Though dated, some of these case studies are still relevant, and independent of country (can happen in US, UK, anywhere). You can read some case studies in the Amazon preview.
But that's still a management problem.
Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello
-
But that's still a management problem.
Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello
Agree. One small point: 'Management problem' is like an umbrella term, and this is one of the sub-bullets there.
-
Lack of user involvement - Mars Rover Project - Counting NASA as the user [X] Long or unrealistic Time Scales - TAURUS [X] Poor or no requirements - Using a personal example (Hope he accepts it...) [X] Scope Creep - (Using TAURUS as my study) [ ] No change control system - Need to find something!! ;-; [X] Poor testing - HM Revenue and Customs If anybody is willing to help me locate some case studies which are of UK projects I would be most grateful, the materials provided by the class are of mostly non UK projects, which is 'slightly' stupid as he wants UK examples... I've tried googling, but all I can find is 200 PDFs of why projects fail and US examples, nothing which is really applicable ;-;
The only way to fail is to stop trying.
-
The only way to fail is to stop trying.
-
PIEBALDconsult wrote:
The only way to fail is to stop trying.
Absolutely. Failure should always be accomplished without effort. (I don't think that's really what you meant, is it?)
True, there's nothing worse that expending extreme effort and then failing. Better to fail right off.