Chapter 12
Why projects fail
Pretty much everyone has their favourite failed project story. One of my own particular favourites was from a few years back. It concerned a DSS information system in Britain that was originally intended to cost £2.75 billion, but would result in a net saving of 2,000 jobs. Eventually, with the project way off target, an enquiry had determined that the system would cost at least another £750 million to finish and that employment in the DSS had actually gone up.
The thing I find most extraordinary about this project is that I can’t remember the name of it and generally, when I mention it to other people, neither can they. You would be inclined to think that a foul-up on this scale would be remembered and go down ...
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