Whose fault it:You leave your job passing pending project to your successor&project is screwed up 8mths later?

Question

In most cases, whose fault is it- You or your successor?

Answer 1

Its your successor's fault. If it had already been 8 months then your successor is not doing his/her job. When I pass a project to a junior I expect a two/three day learning curve. If your successor had worked closely with you, that project should not have gone out the window. Unless you really left it in ruins. But 8 months is too long. Even if you left it in ruins, your successor should have been able to turn it around. I had taken over a project that was 6 months behind and in ruins, and I turned it around in 4 days and met the deadline.

Answer 2

More than likely, since you are no longer there, the fault will be passed back to you. This does not mean that anyone could lay that on you in a job recommendation. It is just way to save the new guy's butt. It usually can't be dis-proven or verified. Afer all, whoever hired your successor needs his butt protected too.

I experienced a bit of that.
Long before computers, I had observed a system in New York used by a very successful business. I came back to my job and tried to put that system in place. It took about six months to convince management to let me do it.

It worked beautifully. I could generate information never before available. I think it became a two edged sword. It generated the negative as well as the positive. My six month reports included that negative, and very frankly, management didn't think much of it.

I was let go at some point a few months later, and the system was discarded. I might add, that my successor had no experience with the system, although it was in place. It did take a lot of extra work and required overtime and/or taking it home. It would have been a snap with computers.
I would do it again if I had to do it over. If I was still in that field, I would do it with computers.
I have spent 50 yrs. in retail, 13 in mgt., 35 owner. I always felt that the negatives were just as important as the positives. Mananagemt preaches this, but when it reflects on them, NOT! Details would be excessive here.
So, I know from where you speak.

Answer 3

Not sure the details of the project, but if it the project was something that would be built up, and the early stage was most important (IT program design, city-planning, etc), and if the early-stage info or decision were largely inaccurate (or inappropriately communicated), and it was too late for the successor to redo it (for time/budget restriction), it might be the predecessor's fault.

Still, the successor must have had a chance to notify the situation to ask for more support or change of the plan -- so I think it's very difficult to say.

If you are the one who passed the project to your successor, I would say, not to worry -- like the old-car saying.

You once owned the car, and might have loved the car so much, but you sold your car. Whatever happened to the car afterwards is none of your business

(regardless of what people say - you were not the one who made the decision to take the project away from you, no?)

Answer 4

If the project fails then they will look for scapegoats to blame it on. Since you are no longer around they may place it on you. After 8 months I would place the blame on the one who currently leads the project.