PMcrunch

Sometimes I wonder if we are too success oriented.  In other words, we as project managers feel that we have failed if our projects fail in anyway, and we define ourselves by project success and project failure.  This reminds me of children in school striving all the time to get perfect grades.  The problem with this is that sometimes failures produce our greatest successes.  Do we have a project management expectation that acknowledges that?

Project’s Failing
We are all familiar with the fact that failure leads to success.  I hope that we are also familiar with the common wisdom that allowing people to fail (assuming they are trying) is a very effective way of doing business.  Yes, we learn by our failures, we learn by our mistakes.  Let us not make the mistake of not allowing individuals, as well as projects to fail.

In listening to a pod cast interview with Rosabeth Moss Kantor (a long time Harvard Business School Professor and Harvard Business Review Writer), she suggests in "Innovation:  The Classic Traps" that within the project portfolio of a company, it is actually a healthy sign to see some level of representation of failed projects.  In my view, the existence of failure often shows that we are striving for success, and that we are stretching beyond our comfort zone.  This truly works in projects, and on a corporate or organizational level, and not just a personal level.

Project Failure = Project Success
Perhaps it is hard to stomach having failed projects.  After all, any project manager wants to have all their projects on time and within budget.  This is certainly a noble goal, and perhaps within the framework of allowing failure we can still have success.  Let us explore.

I think its all in the definition of the project.  The project itself could provide budget, time, and room for failure.  Perhaps it could be a matter of just stating that the purpose of the project is to try this, to try such and such, and report on the results.  These results could be either a failure or a success.   As for the “experiment”, it could leave the project a success either way, as long as the experiment was carried out properly.  This way, project managers on such projects could be immune from a certain level of failure, that comes from factors that might not be under their control.

A Solution for Successful Projects
Perhaps the way to handle project failure is simply to have a culture among project managers, where not trying is not tolerated and as long as failure is well documented, and well understood, is tolerated.  How can the organization learn, and how can there truly be good and worthwhile lessons learned, if there is not some degree of failure?  Having this tolerance for failure and creating an atmosphere of openness, where project managers are able to be open in explaining why something might be failing, or having failed, is very important.  It creates a culture of stretching, of taking reasonable and measured risks, and of trusting one another in the process.  This will build much better project managers and a much more forward moving organization - where project success is redefined.
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John Reiling, PMP
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