Top 27 Basic Cause of Project Risk and Failure

1. Strategic alignment did not match the business goals.
2. There were communication breakdowns.
3. Up-front buy-in was not obtained.
4. User involvement was inadequate.
5. There were poor user inputs.
6. Stakeholder conflicts existed.
7. The requirements were vague.
8. User requirements were not firmly nailed down.
9. User requirements may have changed midway.
10. Poor cost and schedule estimates existed.
11. Skills did not match the job.
12. There were hidden costs of going “lean and mean.”
13. There was a failure to plan properly.
14. Poor architecture existed.
15. Failure warning signals came late.
16. Company financials may have changed.
17. Project manager may not have been skilled.
18. The project team may have been unacceptable to management.
19. The champion and executive sponsor was transferred, or left the company, or was not there
20. Value is not understood.
21. Vendors bid without understanding the requirements well.
22. Goals are not clearly and succinctly defined.
23. Key performance indicators (KPIs) are neither defined nor understood.
24. Change management was not practiced.
25. Risk planning was not done properly.
26. Most projects get initiated as automation of as-is without due business process reengineering (BPR) or to-be views.
27. The quality of external consulting was poor