Why organizations fail at project management?

Answer 1

Often because they do not sufficiently fully understand the ramifications of what they are doing at the start. I can give some examples:

1 Laying a subsea artic pipeline. Initially thought could be laid one metre deep in ocean floor. Detailed study indicates ice shear may be a problem so decided to lay two metres deep. Bigger more expensive barges needed, construction costs increase greatly.

2 Distillation column operating at higher pressure than previous experience. Initially assumed that relative volatilities will remain the same but doubt is cast on this. Column made twice as big to try to ensure that it works.

3. Actual foundation work reveals problems initial surveys did not show.

There can often be a lot of devil in the detail which is not immediately apparent.

Answer 2

Lack of training and lack of staffing. Project Managers are business managers, but many do not see themselves that way. They see themselves as engineers who happen to be managing projects, and that is not the same thing. Not all scientists/engineers are cut out to be PMs.

Answer 3

They lose sight of their original vision.