Surviving a Failed Project

Just about every seasoned project manager has experienced at least one failure in his or her career. I am always skeptical of the experienced PM who says "I've never failed".  They're either lying or don't have experience. Some of my best (and most painful) growth as a professional occurred because of a failed project. Project managers can redeem themselves and maintain credibility by doing the following:

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1. Readily admit any mistakes made - execs hate whining and finger-pointing. As the PM, admit where things went wrong. Make sure the admitted mistakes are thoughtful and realistic, not an "I killed Lincoln" attitude of taking blame for anything.
   
2. Publicize the lessons learned - develop a lessons learned document with input from the team which outlines what you've learned from the situation and how you might help other project managers avoid the same failure.
   

   3.   Show that you learned your lesson - Don't make the same mistake twice; execs will be much less sympathetic with a project manager who hasn't learned his or her lesson the first time around.

Lonnie Pacelli
Keynote Speaker | Board Director | Autism Advocate | Author | Project Management Expert | Microsoft/Accenture Veteran 
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