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OK, let's stop this project

I have recently read an article about stopping a project. Although it may be common sense, you should always consider that your project might not be successful (especially at its early beginning, when the risks are higher and uncertainaties are plenty of).

And here you are, in the middle of your project, and you start thinking that you should close it. Where did you got this idea? Maybe...
  • your resources have been moved to more "glamorous" projects
  • maybe your sponsor has changed opinion, or was fired, or just lost his decision power
  • maybe the product of the project is no longer required by the customer (be it an internal customer, or a market sector)
  • maybe you can no longer control the technology, as it was too new when you started, and it now proves to be cumbersome
  • maybe because you are losing money from this project, instead of making
  • the focus of the company has changed, and this project does no longer fit into the strategy
  • project performance is too low
  • other external conditions may have changed to lead to project termination.

All these are potential reasons, and if you notice some of these symptoms in your project, then you should really consider cancelling it before losing too much on it.

In one of the next postings, I will try to talk also on how to do this so that nobody hurts!!


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