Instructions:

From the list of "Project Pitfalls" listed below, select five.

Prepare a written analysis of each Project Pitfall to include:

o Identification of the basic symptoms and/or causal factors.

o A determination of avoidance/mitigation strategies for each selected Project Pitfall.

• Confusion and disagreements about project responsibilities.
• Lack of adequate analysis and reports on progress/cost/schedule relationships and results.
• Disagreements with customers, sponsors, etc., about quality of deliverables.
• Significant third-parties are not fully integrated into the project management function.
• Failure to make appropriate use of experience and resources.
• Inadequate communication with external stakeholders.
• Failure to request legitimate funding increases.
• Deliverables do not fulfill requirements and/or interface properly.
• Backward scheduling from imposed dates.
• Inaccurate cost estimating.
• Major disruption caused by occurrence of a known risk.
• Form of contract does not correlate with project risks.
• Unrealistic revenue/cost reduction projections.
• Insufficient time spent on planning.
• Lack of user input.
• Lack of customer/sponsor commitment/support.
• Technological incompetence.
• Executive management does not have realistic expectations.
• Inadequate Business Case/Requirements Document.
• Inadequate Statement of Work.
• Failure to consider operational impacts.
• Failure to keep the Business Case "evergreen."
• Failure to consider program close-out costs.