Lessons Learnt from a Project Failure - Essay Example

I was appointed team lead for the preparation of an investment report which was required totally with two bank statements with the company’s investments. The task was supposed to be finished overnight otherwise additional payments were to be incurred by the organization due to the additional day of the auditor’s visit. Our team failed to complete the assigned task within the deadline, however, somehow we were able to avoid the additional payment costs to the company. The reasons for this failure were later on studied in depth to extract results, inferences, and lessons for future reference and better response. The next few paragraphs will discuss the lessons learned by the team.

The first and far most important is the assignment of the task to a professional with appropriate skills and zeal to accomplish the assigned task. The initial assignment of the task seems to be a wrong assignment and lake of professionalism caused unnecessary delay in the completion of the investment report. An unfinished report was the ultimate result of this wrong assignment. Therefore purposeful evaluation of professional competence for a specific task is of core importance for the successful completion of the project.

It is also evident from the findings that the project was not properly supervised for in time preparation of the investment report therefore the initial assignment was not completed. Poor management and supervision resulted in a rushed try by our team. Although best efforts were put in the extra amount of work caused additional fatigue and resulted in overnight work stress and tiredness. Projects with vital company interests are required to be planned carefully and eleventh-hour assignments with short deadlines are not only seldom completed in the stipulated time frame but also exert additional stress over the team lead and members.

The completion of the investment report in a befitting manner through with a delay has some positive indicators for future project planning and management decisions. The stress can be utilized to get better and enhance focus by the team leaders and members. The preparation of the investment report over the weekend was triggered by enhanced and more concentrated efforts by the team and its leader. The management was able to discover valuable human resources that can be employed in future projects of core importance with a short deadline. The performance of the team under stress and pressure has been appreciated despite an evident failure of in-time fulfillment of the assigned tasks. The overall outcome of this analysis is quite useful and lessons learned will improve time management and project planning skills.