In most situations on projects, failure simply is not an option. The project or program must succeed one way or another. We need to grapple with whether to do the project on one level; but once that decision has been made, it needs to be executed successfully. If that decision truly has been made and success is a realistic possibility for the project then we must take failure as an option off the table. Let’s take a deeper look.
We may not recognize it, but, often, we subconsciously put failure as an option on our projects. We may talk about what happens that we cannot control and imply that, if that happens, the project may not succeed. Subconsciously, or quietly, maintaining the option of failure by placing CYA criteria on the table is a disservice to stakeholders and is a failure in leadership. It shows a lack of confidence is sure to not inspire confidence and comfort in our stakeholders and those who we would have followed.
In our projects and programs, we need to find a way to take failure as an option off the table. It may be that we need to delay some features, to reduce some expenditure, or to come up with more risk-mitigation plans; but, in any case, we need to find a way to create a success under all circumstances. This is a demonstration of true leadership.
______________________
John Reiling, PMP
Project Management Training Online
Lean Six Sigma Training Online
73 responses so far ↓
1 pawelbrodzinski // Mar 13, 2009 at 6:30 am
Failure always is an option, no matter if you accept the fact or not. Risk management is all about accepting the fact something can fail and preparing a plan to aviod that. If you deny odds of failure you may forget about mitigation plan and actually raise the chances of failing.
2 John Reiling // Mar 30, 2009 at 11:51 pm
Pawel, I agree that is true in relatively controlled environments. But if we look at extreme cases, such as military operations, which is full of projects where failure is not an option, there is a difference. The point I am trying to make is that if failure is not an option, we are much, much more likely to succeed. When ppeople MUST find a way, they usually, though not always, do. This does not mean we do not need risk mitigatio plans…
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