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Why Good Projects Fail — And What Leaders Do About It
Executive Brief: Why Good Projects Fail

This session challenges the idea that projects fail because of bad tools, weak schedules, or poor documentation. They don’t. They fail because leadership misjudges readiness, risk, ownership, and organizational reality.

Drawing from enterprise and state government experience, this lecture explores:

1. What Actually Makes Something a Project

Not activity. Not operations.
A project is temporary, unique, and outcome-defined. Confusing the two leads to chaos before work even begins.

2. The Illusion of Clarity

“It would be nice if…” is not a requirement.
Vague intent, undefined success, and soft sponsorship are early warning signs most teams ignore.

3. Story #1: The $80 Problem

A seemingly simple cost decision created cascading operational disruption:

• Unexpected device logouts

• Locked accounts

• Hidden dependencies

• Unplanned change impact

The lesson: There is no such thing as overcommunicating change.
Leaders often underestimate downstream consequences.

4. Story #2: The Project I Killed

Clear scope. SMART objectives.
Strong sponsor — on paper.

But when sponsorship vanished, the project lost oxygen.

Projects don’t fail because of bad templates.
They fail when leadership disengages.

5. The Real Failure Drivers

While methodologies matter, executives evaluate projects differently:

• Is the organization ready?

• What happens if this fails?

• What’s the opportunity cost?

• Does leadership actually care?
  
  

On-time delivery is secondary to strategic alignment and risk posture.

6. How Executives Prioritize

Using a real example of critical system identification:

• Started with 86 systems

• Cut to 50

• Prioritized to 15

• Identified top 2 for assessment

• This demonstrates that prioritization is not democratic — it’s risk-based and impact-driven.

7. Early-Career Advice

Your first five years matter more than you think.
Be an asset. At minimum, don’t be a liability.