Project Management Failures

Quite often, we tend to focus on the success we’ve experienced with accomplishing projects. But what about when we fail? How can we learn from those losses? I discuss an example of a failed project below and strategies I could have implemented to make the process more fluid. 

Project Background

In July 2018, I was asked to create an evaluation norming activity to release to 450 school principals in an effort to continue honing evaluation practices. To provide context, a norming activity typically includes an opportunity for evaluation teams to view a recorded instructional lesson, script by collecting evidence, and align evidence to the assigned rubric to determine a teacher’s level of instructional performance. I was given little to no guidance on how to set this up; I was told “We want this done. Preferably around September.” I quickly began outlining what was needed for this project to happen: timelines for completion, expected outcomes, technical needs (LMS platform functions), and communication plan. At the time, I had about 3-4 weeks to create the program’s functions, with check-ins with the manager each week to report progress. No recommendations were given, no changes. By late August, a final project that met the requirements I created. I did ask for colleague feedback, inviting them to walk through the course requirements in the LMS and an overview of the discussion. Both ended with positive results. When presented to my manager with feedback, she stated the next phase was for her to include other leadership members to review the process, from outline to finished product. I was told I would have ‘feedback’ by September...yet September is when they wanted the program to rollout for participants. 

Long story short...the norming project was not released until November 2018, two months after the initial requested launch. After an additional 4 weeks of inquiring about feedback from leadership, my manager requested to broaden the audience from 450 principals to all 632 school-level administrators across the district. This meant I had to manually add the additional 182 people to the current LMS course. In lieu of each grade band receiving its own aligned instructional video, all participants were required to watch the same 3rd grade video, which angered many of the middle and high school administrators. The last piece of straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back was after the two-month delay, the project was mysteriously ‘reassigned’ from me to the Academics department lead to revise, The final product on their end was the same project I created. I did manage to determine that the transfer of the project was not due to my error or negligence; it was reallocated because leaders felt ‘the norming process would be better suited in the academics department, not the evaluation department’. By December 2018, only 27 people completed the norming assignment. 

Why did the project fail?

I believe it was due to unclear expectations on what was wanted. I created a program that could have been successful (It was when we used it in 2019) yet there were no guidelines in which the manager nor her leadership had for the process. Time was also a factor in its failure. By the time participants were granted access, it was December, a time of year that many school administrators are engulfed in many end of semester tasks (i.e. grading, district responsibilities, evaluations). If the project was launched on time, we would have at least allowed for practice before the actual evaluation season began and used the data to determine areas of focus for future practice and areas to support during the season. 

Which parts of the PM process, if included, would have made the project more successful? Why?

When I reflect on my experience, I should have asked more questions about what my manager’s expectations were, even if she initially responded with nothing. Two that come to mind is what her vision was for norming, or if the department had conducted it previously and its outcomes. Also, conducting a needs analysis to determine areas of concern would have been a great method to assess evaluation areas to pinpoint support and norming aids.