Project Cancellations

Good stewardship of projects will place stage gates and hurdles into the delivery process, which offers companies an opportunity to reevaluate further investment given current conditions and the strategic outlook. However, here's some tips for reading the situation ahead of stage-gates. ...

... "It's a normal and natural part of the project management process to have a few go/no-go points in the plan or to have milestones that must be met for the project to be allowed to continue. " ...

Via TechRepublic: Signs that your project is about to be cut

Grow Ideas into Projects

Create a project incubator. Sprinkle some funding on your seeds and see which ones grow. Prune your plants. And, water your best prospects to grow the strongest trees. Read on for tips on incubating ideas into projects. ...

... "Pruning the project incubator is an especially important aspect of developing ideas. Ideas change over time, and some even turn out to be duds. " ...

Via LifeDev: Grow Your Ideas

Cancel Project: Not At Pain Point

Ten insights on dips, or inflection points, and what to do about them. Don't cancel your project when it gets tough. Use your dips wisely. Thanks Guy and Seth. ...

... "What's the worst time to quit? When the pain is the greatest. Decisions made during great pain are rarely good decisions. " ...

Via How to Change the World: The Big Dip

Government IT Project Cancelled

Wisconsin IT project cancelled after delays and overruns in upgrading a legacy system. ...

... "The project was halted in the second of seven phases, which involved an appeals system that was never completed due to delays and the accompanying expense ... " ...

Via Wisconsin Technology Network: Wisconsin Technology Projects

Keeping Technology In-House Pays Off

A little over a year ago, JPMorganChase canceled its $5 billion outsourcing contract with IBM Global Services and brought its technology operations back in-house.

Says CIO Austin Adams:

"The decision to cancel the outsourcing deal wasn't driven entirely by cost savings... It was about our belief that we wanted to be more involved in every aspect of our business, and technology is a significant part."

And this belief has proven true. The bank is now seeing cost savings from better leveraging of software and hardware deals, and is seeing excellent operational efficiencies as well.

For project managers, this can bring additional benefits, such as having the right know-how in house, and avoiding the need to manage across multiple organizations.

In general, while appearing to be a silver bullet, outsourcing can have negative effects on morale and can damage communities as well. Furthermore it doesn't always bring the cost-savings it promises and puts the organization at the mercy of its vendors. Collectively, there's no telling what the long-term impact will be on the United States.

Companies such as Toyota practice long-term thinking, pride of workmanship, and remain community-focused, with good results. Cheers to JPMorgan Chase.

Here's the full article from Baseline Magazine. There's also an interesting sidebar called "Can You Outsource Project Management?"

JPMorgan Chase Retakes Control of I.T.

Project Perception is Reality; Don't Let 'em See You Sweat

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!


When it comes to project success, perception is more important than reality. That's not to say you should lie or cover up anything, merely that your stakeholders don't need to know (nor do they care about knowing) all the little difficulties and issues you're experiencing in the project.

Keep project status reports brief, listing a short status, the key milestones, the top 3 issues, and what's being done to address them. Paint a positive picture of events, even regarding the issues being addressed. Project team members and stakeholders must feel that the project is well under control.

Of course, if huge barriers exist, or major issues arise, address these immediately with whatever team members and/or managers you need to resolve the issue. Management needs to know these things. But if you reach a point where you must communicate bad news more broadly, try to focus on the positive side of things (everything has a positive side if you look hard enough). Public relations experts have taken this approach for years with great success.

Even a project where it makes sense to cancel it, maybe because it no longer will bring the expected benefits, should be seen as a good thing, as it means the system is working. Remember, keep it positive!