According to research conducted jointly by ESI International and the project
benchmarking company Independent Project Analysis (IPA), troubled
projects are costing taxpayers millions.

The study reveals:

● 34 per cent of all projects succeed.
● An average of 15% of all projects fail.

Projects that are considered 'challenged' – usually due to cost or schedule
overruns – account for 51% of all projects.

'Tangible results require tangible skills. Effective project management can
save organizations millions, if not billions of dollars in lost revenue,” says J.
LeRoy Ward, PMP, PgMP, executive vice president at ESI International, a
global organization specializing in project and programme management
performance improvement.

The study reveals that troubled projects are a worldwide affliction. From the
US, UK, to the Asian Pacific Rim, cost overruns coupled with failed timelines
lead to sidetracked projects and, ultimately, wasted resources in the form of
time, dollars and people.

In 2003 the United Kingdom’s Office of Government Commerce (OGC)
reported the cost of over-budget government IT projects had exceeded £1.5
billion or about US$3 billion over the last 6 years.

In mid 2007, the Economist Intelligence Unit reported the results of their
survey of 145 senior global executives from different industries on their
current and planned IT projects.

Twenty per cent of the executives stated over half of their IT projects started
in the past two years were late or over budget. In addition, only 13% of the
executives felt their IT projects had delivered the promised features and
functions. Poor project management was attributed as the primary cause for
IT project problems.

'Projects with poorly defined scope, undeveloped teams, and whose cost and
schedule lack detail at the time of execution are more likely to not meet
business objectives,' says Mary Ellen Yarossi, director, IPA Institute.
'Based on the IPA database of more than 300 IT projects, the quality of
project scope development in conjunction with team effectiveness allows
projects that have more predictable and more effective project results.

'Best practices have been shown to reduce costs by 10%, reduce execution
and implementation time by 8%, and improve performance by 10%. These
project improvements can take a 15% rate of return project and turn it into a
24% rate of return project, a 60% improvement.'

'When a project fails, it’s important to first acknowledge what’s happening,”
said Ward. Signs of failure include strained team relationships, long hours
and threats of legal action. 'Troubled project recovery is one of the greatest
challenges a project manager can face, but the pay off is enormous.'