"Characteristics of a Troubled Project"

ESI International has written a white paper, called Saving Troubled Projects (registration required), describing their methodology for diagnosing and intervening to save failing IT projects.

Here are a few quotes from the white paper:

Simply put, “troubled” means that the project’s variance trends of time, cost and scope have exceeded acceptable levels and, without immediate intervention, the project will continue on a path to failure. Troubled projects carry a high cost both to your organization and, by association, to you and to key executives. For example, in 2002 Nike shares tumbled 20 percent upon news that their i2 Technologies supply chain project was in trouble. As a result, Nike lost $100 million in orders because the system wasn’t “up and running.”

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Characteristics of a Troubled Project

• No one has a firm idea of when the project will be finished and most people have given up trying to guess
  
• The product is laden with defects
• Team members are working excessive hours—20 or more hours per week of involuntary overtime
  
• Management has lost its ability to control progress or even to ascertain the project’s status with any accuracy
  
• The customer has lost confidence that the project team will ever deliver the promised goods
  
• The team is defensive about its progress
• Relations between project team members are strained
  
• The project is on the verge of cancellation
• The morale of the project team has hit rock bottom
• The customer is threatening legal action