The Project Management Advisor: 18 Major Project Screw-ups, and How to Cut Them off at the Pass Lonnie Pacelli PEARSON EDUCATION, INC. The Project Management Advisor: 18 Major Project Screw-ups, and How to Cut Them off at the Pass Lonnie Pacelli PRENTICE HALL An Imprint of PEARSON EDUCATION Upper Saddle River, NJ • London • San Francisco • Toronto • Sydney Tokyo • Singapore • Hong Kong • Cape Town • Madrid Paris • Milan • Munich • Amsterdam www.ftp-ph.com A CIP record of this book can be obtained from the Libary of Congress. Publisher: Tim Moore Acquisitions Editor: Paula Sinnott Editorial Assistant: Rick Winkler Marketing Manager: Martin Litkowski International Marketing Manager: Tim Galligan Managing Editor: Gina Kanouse Production and Interior Design: Specialized Composition , Inc. Cover Design: Anthony Gemmellaro Manufacturing Buyer: Dan Uhrig © 2004 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458 Prentice Hall offers excellent discounts on this book when ordered in quantity for bulk purchases or special sales. For more information, please contact: U.S. Corporate and Government Sales, 1-800-382-3419,
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[email protected] Company and product names mentioned herein are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reporduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher. Printed in the United States of America First Printing ISBN 0131490478 Pearson Education Ltd. Pearson Education Australia Pty., Limited Pearson Education Singapore, Pte. Ltd. Pearson Education North Asia Ltd. Pearson Education Canada, Ltd. Pearson Educación de Mexico, S.A. de C.V. Pearson Education—Japan Pearson Education Malaysia, Pte. Ltd. Contents at a Glance Preface Acknowledgements Screw-up Screw-up Screw-up Screw-up Screw-up Screw-up Screw-up Screw-up Screw-up #1 – We weren’t addressing the right problem #2—We designed the wrong thing #3—We used the wrong technology #4—We didn’t design a good project schedule #5—We didn’t have the right sponsorship #6—The team didn’t gel #7—We didn’t involve the right people #8—We didn’t communicate what we were doing #9—We didn’t pay attention to project risks and management issues Screw-up #10—The project cost much more than expected Screw-up #11—We didn’t understand and report progress against the plan Screw-up #12—We tried to d