What’s a good predictor of a problem project? I’m sure we all have our own ‘sniff tests’ when it comes to projects, and identifying what is likely to cause problems. But we haven’t done as much research as Alexander Budzier from the Saïd Business School – he’s looked at 22,000 across every sector!
It turns out the single biggest red flag for ever escalating costs is one we probably all recognise – when people start saying “this project is unique”.
Certainly I have come across it in my career – the stubborn belief that a project is so unusual, so rare, that obviously none of the traditional ways of managing a project could possibly reflect its glorious complexity. Some of the organisations I have worked in, despite being commonplace across the country, still believe that their particular needs are utterly unique, never seen before.
This kind of problem is also hard to address – very few project sponsors want to be told that, actually, their project isn’t that special, lessons can indeed be taken from other projects, and no, you don’t get to ignore warning signs because of the uniqueness of their vision.
So what can we do? Well, remind yourself that you are very unlikely to be running a project that is entirely dissimilar to every other project, ever. Look for the similarities, reach out to colleagues, and learn from those who have gone before.
Make your project special, by avoiding what Alexander Budzier calls the “uniqueness trap”.
Trevor Roberts is a programme and project management consultant and the founder of Dull Industries – a consultancy focused on project turnaround, AI implementation, and digital strategy.