That is the claim of a leading academic at the University of Southampton's School of Management.
Terry Williams, Professor of Management Science, claims project management systems at many companies and organisations do not look at the root causes when things go wrong. "Projects often do not follow a logical course. Things happen along the way to change initial plans," says Professor Williams. "It can be very hard to track exactly how decisions were made and there's always the temptation to go on to the next project straight away without examining the old one. Research shows many projects are not reviewed at all, so the same mistakes keep on happening time and again."
He claims it often comes down to a lack of will among business leaders and project managers. They know they ought to analyse the outcome of projects and learn lessons but many do not do it effectively.
Professor Williams and colleagues have researched the subject by analysing a questionnaire returned by more than 500 project managers around the world. Sectors taking part included information technology (IT), manufacturing, finance and consulting. Most deal with projects valued around $100,000-$1m. Although nearly two-thirds (61%) said their organisation had formal methods to learn from projects, only 11% said they were adhered to.
The research also looked at whether lessons learned were shared with others in the organisation. Less than a quarter (22%) said lessons were passed throughout the organisation but almost two-thirds (65%) thought lessons were sometimes or occasionally shared.
