Keith Watanabe * NET 2.0

My previous post was concerning recognizing when an IT project was in danger of failing.  Having worked on situations where IT projects failed miserably, I must ask then when to simply pull the plug.  I recommend using the following criteria:

- Your core team has health problems
- Your core team has been working 10+ hour days, even on weekends for 4 months, with no realistic end in sight (I'd cut it down to 2 months even)
- Too many project milestones have been missed, especially those on the critical path
- When tempers are flaring unnecessarily
- When management moves into a reactionary mode for extended periods
- When your budget is depleted (obvious one)
- When team members quit left and right or even are rumored to be quitting
- When the true vision of a project gets skewed into pure meaningless deliverables
- When people on the team lack clear direction and are asking the same questions over and over
- When the time to market has already bypassed your deliverable
- When chief people pull out funding
- When responsibility moves into a game of "hot potato"

I think though the biggest thing is making sure your team has good morale more than anything.  I'm a huge believer in having a good team who have good chemistry above anything.  I think that a good team can overcome most obstacles.  But the thing is that you need to make certain that the team remains intact.  It's of course another issue if the team is dysfunctional or cannot deliver anything at all.  But you really want to provide as much support for the team.  If the people are decent but run into problems because deadlines creep up, make sure you really understand what it all implies.  Don't just look at deliverables and milestones, but the scope of what's going on.  You might completely miss the point of a project and get yourself into a bigger hole.