Re: (also for \/) on Failure rates....
- From: Straydog <asd@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 3 May 2007 14:46:37 -0400
On Thu, 3 May 2007, alexy wrote:
Straydog <asd@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I'm not sure the author really thought this one through before drawing
Just what Dave Jensen never likes to talk about, or admit is part of real
life:
WSJ, May 1, 2007, page B1:
"Assigned to a Flop? You Could Wind UP Looking Like a Winner"
by Joann S. Lublin
Quotes:
"Nobody likes working on a project headed for failure. But almost everyone
lands some such dreaded tasks. A whopping 78% of 589 professionals and
managers say they're now involved in at least one project they expect will
fail to produce its advertised results, concludes a recent survey by
VitalSmarts, a corporate-training firm in Provo, Utah. Another surprise
finding: 61% say they knew an unsucessful prior project would flop before
its launch or sooner."
an apparent conclusion that this data was real. Two problems I see
with this: Honesty of those self-reporting their knowledge that the
program was doomed, and honest failings of human recollection.
Below is an insertable file that gives some additional information.
////////////////
Here is a quote from an article in the Wall Street Journal, April 30, 1998
(and it was on the front page, A1). The article title is "Pulling the Plug,
Some Firms, Let Down By Costly Computers, Opt to 'De-Engineer,' With
Its Software Clashing, Chrysler Chucks NeXT and Rediscovers Phones" by
Bernard Wysocki, Jr.(staff reporter). Please read carefully this one quoted
paragraph:
"The waste is staggering. A 1996 survey of 360 companies by the research
firm Standish Group International Inc. in Dennis, Mass., found that 42% of
corporate information-technology projects were abandoned before
completion. U.S. companies spend about $250 billion annually on
computer technology."
That article gave several other specific example of large and very expensive
(up to $65 mi) projects that completely failed.
Since you might say that the above is a little old (1998) and things have
gotten better, here (below) is a paragraph, out of a more recent multipage
article. I quote from the print version of Infoworld.com, page 42, from the
8/16/04 issue. Please read carefully.
"The Standish Group, which exists soley to track IT successes and failures,
sets out very strict criteria for success. For its Chaos Report, The Standish
Group surveyed 13,522 projects last year and showed that unqualified
project successes are well below 50%, 34 percent to be exact. Out-and-out
failures, defined as projects abandoned midstream, are at 15 percent.
Falling in between the two are completed but "challenged" projects. The
report says challenged projects represent 51 percent of all IT projects and
are defined as projects with cost overruns, time overruns, and projects not
delivered with the right functionality to support the business."
That same article showed a bar graph correlating project success with
project cost. Result? The highest budgeted projects were the biggest
failures. Projects budgets for more than $10 mil, were successful only 2%
of the time. Projects under $750,000 were successful 46% of the time.
In the book "The Software Conspiracy - Why Software Companies Put Out Faulty Products, How They Can Hurt You, And What You Can Do About It" by Mark Minasi (c 2000, McGraw-Hill), the author documents a sad aspect of the software industry culture: more emphasis is placed on adding new features than correcting old or known bugs or producing low bug code. And, in the history leading up to the book, there has been no improvement in this culture. ///////////////////////////////
I
imagine that the same concerns at the beginning of a project, will be
remembered and honestly reported as "I knew this project would fail"
or "I had some concerns but was glad to see that they were addressed
during the course of the project", depending on how the project came
out. Very few people will remember those concerns as "I knew this
project would fail" if it later succeeds.
You are welcome to live your life by buying-into polyanna; Me, if the rocket blows up on the launch pad, I'm going to write it down as "the rocket blew up on the launch pad."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^The rest of the article goes into the details of the intrigue,I guess I'm just not as cynical,
back-stabbing, manuevering, BSing, and self-rescue (of course, with
language more polite and PC than I used in that sentence).
Now what tells me that this is, from you, unsurprising?
but I thought the article was full of
pretty sound advice for someone who finds himself in that situation.
\/, its just for you, but the rest of us have been making very mucyh the same suggestions to you over all tese years.
Here's a link to the actual article.
http://www.careerjournal.com/columnists/manageyourcareer/20070502-managingyourcareer.html?cjpos=home_whatsnew_major
--
Alex -- Replace "nospam" with "mail" to reply by email. Checked infrequently.
And, regarding the backstabbing & politics, here's my booklist:
This is a list of recommended books. No politics, no religion, no
history, few academics. Just basic CYA and crap to look out for
in the real world (and there is more crap out there than most
people would care to admit). I put this list together Nov 2 as an
FYI, partly in response to discussions on SRC regarding how
employees are treated and what they can do in terms of a CYA
strategy. All of the below books are at least indirectly related
to how you, as an employee (or even a citizen non-employee), can
be mistreated and/or misled in unjustifiable ways by "powers that
be" or how larger society as a whole is exploited for the
enrichment of a few people. Probably all of them will be easy to
find on Amazon.com as a used book for very little money.
---- relevant books I've read, recently, cover to cover----
Agents of Influence (by Pat Choate) c 1990, how the Japanese
have essentially won the economic/trade war with the USA.
Barbarians at the Gate by Bryan Burrough & John Helyar. All about
the largest leveraged buyout of the time (RR Nabisco) initiated
by Ross Johnson but the thunder stolen by Kravis (KK&R) and being
proof of the triump of theivery over business. Tens of thousands
of people were negatively impacted for only the purpose of making
a few people rich.
Chainsaw Al (can't remember the author). All about Al Dunlap at
Sunbeam. It is incredible how dumb and stupid and incompetant
boards of directors can be.
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man (by John Perkins). A very very
dirty business by which poor countries are terribly exploited by
certain predatory US corporations using corrupt practices.
Confessions of a Union Buster (by Martin Jay Levitt) How
businesses would rather spend the same amount of money to fight unions than just give the money to employees and the fighting
will be full of dirty tricks. The author admits all of what he
did that ruined people, ruined marriages, and ruined families.
Corruption and the Decline of Rome (by Ramsay Macmullen). A
masterful academic study of the decline of the (Western) Roman
Empire through the hypothesis of corruption. 200 pages of text,
100 pages of references & footnotes.
Debunking Economics: The Naked Emperor of the Social Sciences
(Steve Keen). A recognized economist shows how there are a lot of
serious problems in economics.
Devil Take The Hindmost (by Edward Chancellor) All about the
financial markets going back some 500+ years. Most of the time
the investors lost their money, the brokers/agents/scammers went
laughing to the bank.
"Dissent in Medicine (by Robert S. Mendelsohn, et al.)" A total
of nine MDs, as authors, exposing the scams of the medical
industry.
Martha Inc (can't remember the author). All about Martha Stewart.
She's not a nice girl (CEO). She's been in the clink, too.
Stealing the Market - how the giant brokerage firms with help
from the SEC stole the stock market from investors. (by Martin
Mayer). How the money handlers cheat everyone.
The Challenge of Global Capitalism-The world economy in the 21st
century--by Robert Gilpin. He is a pro-globalisation guy, but he
honestly says he's not sure it will work; it has a lot of
problems. Very good.
The Creature from Jekyll Island (by G. Edward Griffin) The most
important book I've read in 20 years. Easy to understand and you
will learn how banks really work and how they create money. His
recommendation, however, to abolish the Fed is not a good idea.
"The Dollar Crisis--Causes, Consequences, Cures (by Richard
Duncan)" Explanations are good, easy to understand, but the
recommendations are bad. Good to read to better understand the
dominance of the USD in the world.
The Labor Story (by Aleine Austin), history of working conditions
which were worse in the past but still, today, if you are an
employee you are on the losing end of the deal.
The Money Culture (by Michael Lewis) several excellent chapters
about factual business scams.
The Truth about the National Debt: Five Myths and One Reality
(Francis X. Cavanaugh) This is a really terrible book, DON'T
read. Don't buy it, don't waste your time. Author is an
economist; all full of doublethink, doubletalk, vaguetalk, bait-
n-switchtalk, nonthink, nonsense. BS BS BS. Terrible.
War by other means (by John J. Fialka) Industrial spying & theft
=============================
Below are books I have not read but I have, or have looked at
parts of, and think are worth reading:
Nightmare on Wall Street-Mayer
Silicon Snake Oil--Stoll
Secrets of the Temple--Greider (about the '87 stock market crash)
The Greatest-Ever Bank Robbery--Mayer (the S&L crisis)
The Bankers--Mayer (how banks really work)
The Invisible Banks--Tobias (about the insurance business, dark
secrets)
False Profits--Truell & Gurwin (about the BCCI scandal)
Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television--Mander (for
your mental health, get rid of your TV set)
High Tech Heretic --Stoll (here is one on you should get away
from your computer and get back to meeting and interacting
with human beings, directly, again)
The Employer's Legal Handbook--Steingold (Nolo Press: the good
guys and would be worth reading to understand ethical
employment practices)
Using a Lawyer--Ostberg (how to use a lawyer and what to do if
things go wrong, written by a lawyer)
Hetty Green the Witch of Wall Street--Sparks & Moore (Like Martha
Stewart is not a nice girl, Hetty Green was not nice,
either)
The 110 Biggest Mistakes Job Hunters Make--Herman & Sutherland
Double Billing--Stracher (a lawyer writes about how lawyers bilk
their clients)
Small Claims Court--Rudy (in case you want to make trouble for
someone who made trouble for you and don't want to spend a
fortune)
The Law of Medical Liability--Boumil & Elias (better know your
rights before something happens)
The Medical Rackett--Gross (More things to watch out for from the
medical industry)
Take This Book to the Hospital with You--Inlander & Weiner (you
should not need an explanation, better to read before you
go)
Don't Let Your HMO Kill You--Feinberg (see prior book, too).
Perks and Parachutes--Tarrant (how to negotiate better employment
deals, for the employee, parts of it look pretty good)
The Resume Doctor--Marcus (if you have some trouble in your
background, here is how to maybe help)
Soap Opera--Swasy (about corporate incompetance and ineptitude at
Proctor and Gamble)
Trust Me--Binstein & Bowden (all about Charles Keating and the
great S&L ripoffs)
Ten Cents on the Dollar-Rutberg (the scams in the commercial
bankruptcy business)
.
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