Addendum to pathological projects

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“Pathological projects” original site (March 2001)

PROJECT STATISTICS VIEWED FROM BOTH SIDES OF THE ATLANTIC

In the bibliography of the essay dedicated to “pathological Projects” we considered the creation of a new site, following the discovery of the Standish “Chaos Report” and other documents of Anglo-Saxon origin. The present addendum meets this need.
For further details on the Chaos Report, refer to “pathological Projects” bibliography (Warning : the site is written in French).

After the reading of the summary of the Standish Report and following the research that it led us to make, we note the following :

1) The “Standish Chaos Report” is largely known of in European sites which quote it as a reference.

2) No comparable effort has been made in Europe to evaluate the situation of projects. If such a study does exist we would very much like to hear about it.

3) All the European sites we found that mention the Standish Report consider implicitly that the conclusions of this study (based on a sample of projects carried out in the United States) are directly applicable to Europe. Nobody on this side of the Atlantic seems to question the justification and the validity of such an assumption.

4) None of the sites really question the major causes of the problems. Sometimes, the symptoms (the absence of method) are even presented as causes.

5) Nobody either seems to be surprised by the fact that groups of people, having both a good dose of financial and business acumen, and well able to implement well known “best practices”, obstinately refuse to do so.

6) While none of these sites really worry about diagnosing problems, they do on the other hand propose a lavish range of “best practices” and consulting services. George Orwell had the sheep happily bleating “four legs good, two legs bad”.

In conclusion, having read the successive Standish Reports (1994 / 1998), we cannot but note that despite the veritable avalanche of methods proposed, the situation has not really improved...in the United States.

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