Those organizations that rely on the expertise and good judgment of their project managers expect – or rather, demand – that information by floated up the ladder if a project is no longer going to achieve its objectives or is no longer the best project to do to meet strategic goals. If a project won’t work – recommend that the project be shut down! Otherwise, the losses will only increase and have more of a negative impact on the organization’s bottom line than if the project had been terminated.
Unfortunately, when an organization pushes employees to “never fail at any cost,” project managers believe that recommending a project be terminated is akin to admitting failure. Untrue! Letting a project continue when it should not is the actual failure.
When you need to recommend terminating a project, try these best practices:
- Compile the facts – not your opinions or thoughts
- Include the bottom line impact of continuing a bad project
- Consider if there is any way to reshape the project so that it will be the right one
