As a Project Manager writing in my portfolio, I understand that both successes and failures are rooted in how rigorously we execute each phase of the project life cycle—from Initiation through Closing. Below are the five most critical drivers that consistently lead to high-performing, successful projects, followed by the five biggest pitfalls that derail initiatives. Each section includes the reasoning behind its importance, key practices, and a real-world case study from around the globe.
Five Major Causes of Project Success
1. Crystal-Clear Initiation & Business Case
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Phase: Initiation
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Why It Matters: A well-defined charter and business case set expectations, secure funding, and align all stakeholders on objectives and benefits—preventing scope drift and funding shortfalls.
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Key Practices:
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Draft a SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) charter that spells out deliverables, success criteria, and acceptance processes.
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Validate assumptions and constraints with executive sponsors.
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Tie every objective to quantifiable benefits (ROI, cost savings, revenue uplift).
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Case Study: Heathrow Terminal 5 (UK)
When BAA launched its £4.3 billion Terminal 5 at London Heathrow (opened 2008), they began with a two-year, multi-workshop chartering process—engaging airlines, ground handlers, security, and retailers in co-creating the scope and performance targets. Because every party signed off on passenger-throughput goals and cost-share arrangements, T5 opened on time and on budget—despite being one of Europe’s most complex airport projects.
2. Comprehensive, Realistic Planning
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Phase: Planning
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Why It Matters: Detailed breakdowns of work, schedule, budget, and risk responses turn abstract goals into actionable tasks—and realistic estimates mean fewer nasty surprises in execution.
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Key Practices:
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Build a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and assign each package to a responsible owner.
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Use historical data and expert judgment to calibrate task estimates.
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Allocate contingency reserves tied to the highest-impact risks.
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Case Study: Dubai Metro (UAE)
The AED 18.4 billion Dubai Metro (Red Line) was planned with a bottom-up schedule and cost model that incorporated lessons from the Hong Kong MTR. By involving construction, systems, and operations leads in early estimates—and setting aside 10% contingency for tunneling risks—the project opened in September 2009, four months ahead of schedule and under budget.
3. Effective Team Onboarding & Collaborative Execution
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Phase: Execution
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Why It Matters: Even the best plan fails without a cohesive, motivated team. Early alignment on roles, communication norms, and decision rights fuels productivity and innovation on the ground.
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Key Practices:
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Host a kickoff workshop to clarify the RACI matrix (who’s Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed).
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Establish a regular communication cadence (daily stand-ups, weekly steering-committee meetings).
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Promote a culture of open feedback and rapid escalation for issues.
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Case Study: CERN Large Hadron Collider (Switzerland)
Bringing together 10,000 scientists and engineers from 100+ countries, CERN’s LHC project (1998–2008) invested heavily in early cross-functional alignment. Through multi-day “integration weeks,” teams from cryogenics, magnets, detectors, and computing defined clear hand-off protocols and built interpersonal trust—which paid off when the first beam circulated successfully in September 2008.
4. Proactive Monitoring & Adaptive Control
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Phase: Monitoring & Controlling
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Why It Matters: Continuous tracking of scope, schedule, cost, quality, and risks lets you spot variances early and enact corrective actions—avoiding last-minute crises.
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Key Practices:
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Implement Earned Value Management (EVM) to monitor Cost Performance Index (CPI) and Schedule Performance Index (SPI) at least bi-weekly.
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Maintain a dynamic risk register with clear triggers for mitigation actions.
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Hold structured status reviews with both technical teams and sponsors.
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Case Study: NASA Perseverance Rover (Mars 2020, USA)
Facing hundreds of mission-critical risks, NASA’s Mars 2020 team ran “tiger teams” to stress-test every Entry-Descent-Landing scenario. A live dashboard flagged a software-timing issue two weeks before launch—allowing an immediate code fix that preserved the $2 billion mission and enabled Perseverance’s flawless landing on February 18, 2021.
5. Structured Closure & Lessons-Learned Integration
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Phase: Closing
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Why It Matters: Formal acceptance, resource release, and systematic capture of what worked—and what didn’t—seal off current risks and seed improvements for future projects.
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Key Practices:
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Conduct Post-Implementation Reviews (PIRs) at 30, 90, and 180 days post-launch, comparing actual benefits to forecast.
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Archive key artifacts (charter, plans, risk logs, test reports) in a central knowledge repository.
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Debrief sponsors on realized ROI and document recommendations for the PMO.
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Case Study: Panama Canal Expansion (Panama)
Completed in June 2016, the $5.25 billion Panama Canal expansion delivered a 50% increase in capacity. As the project closed, the team held multiple PIR workshops—capturing lessons on marine-traffic modelling, lock-gate construction, and environmental mitigation. Those insights have since informed waterway projects worldwide, from the Suez Canal enhancement to new port developments in Asia.
Five Major Causes of Project Failure
1. Vague Objectives & Weak Sponsorship
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Phase: Initiation
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Why It Fails: Without a crystal-clear charter and active executive backing, projects drift in scope, stall over funding disputes, and lose political support.
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Pitfall Practices:
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Skipping formal charter approval.
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Treating sponsorship as a one-off sign-off rather than an ongoing governance role.
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Case Study: FBI Virtual Case File (USA)
Launched in 2000 to modernize FBI investigation workflows, the $170 million Virtual Case File project suffered from shifting requirements and sporadic sponsor engagement. By 2005 it was canceled—no usable software delivered—because neither the charter nor the funding model tied deliverables to clearly defined business outcomes.
2. Shoddy or Over-Optimistic Planning
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Phase: Planning
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Why It Fails: Rushed schedules and budgets based on gut feel—or outright optimism bias—inevitably collide with reality, causing chronic overruns.
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Pitfall Practices:
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Building gantt charts before breaking down work.
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Ignoring historical data or expert-driven estimates.
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Case Study: Berlin Brandenburg Airport (Germany)
Originally slated to open in 2011 at a cost of €2 billion, BER’s launch was repeatedly delayed until 2020—by which point costs had ballooned over €7 billion. Investigations blamed overly aggressive timelines, inadequate risk buffers, and failure to validate construction sequences before groundbreaking.
3. Poor Communication & Team Misalignment
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Phase: Execution
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Why It Fails: When roles, responsibilities, and escalation paths aren’t clearly defined, teams duplicate work, miss critical handoffs, and morale plummets—killing both efficiency and innovation.
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Pitfall Practices:
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Allowing ambiguous decision-making hierarchies.
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Neglecting stakeholder updates until problems become crises.
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Case Study: NHS National Programme for IT (UK)
Conceived in 2002 to digitize patient records across England’s NHS, the programme struggled with siloed supplier teams, unclear governance, and conflicting clinical needs. By 2011 it was dismantled after spending over £10 billion—much of which was written off due to user resistance and incompatible systems.
4. Undetected Risks & Scope Creep
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Phase: Monitoring & Controlling
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Why It Fails: Failing to maintain an active risk register or enforce change control lets small issues snowball into budget overshoots and timeline disasters.
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Pitfall Practices:
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Ignoring “low-probability, high-impact” threats.
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Approving scope changes informally or without updating baselines.
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Case Study: Denver International Airport Automated Baggage System (USA)
In the early 1990s DIA invested $193 million in an ambitious automated baggage network—with no formal risk modeling for system integration. When interfaces failed under real-world loads, the airport’s opening was delayed by 16 months and total project costs soared to over $2 billion.
5. Neglected Closure & No Knowledge Harvesting
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Phase: Closing
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Why It Fails: Rushing from deployment into “the next big thing” without formal sign-off or lessons-learned sessions means unresolved defects linger—and mistakes repeat on future projects.
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Pitfall Practices:
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Skipping post-project debriefs.
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Letting teams disband without transferring institutional knowledge.
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Case Study: NASA Space Shuttle Challenger & Columbia (USA)
After the 1986 Challenger disaster—caused by O-ring failures in cold weather—NASA’s closure process failed to institutionalize the engineers’ concerns. Those same O-ring issues resurfaced in 2003, contributing to the Columbia tragedy. In both cases, the absence of rigorous lessons-harvesting and process sanctification in the Closing phase proved fatal.
Mapping these ten drivers to the five life-cycle phases makes it clear where—and how—you must invest attention as a Project Manager. By institutionalising the success drivers and vigilantly guarding against the pitfalls, you’ll transform each project from a reactive firefight into a predictable, value-driven journey—from charter to close-out