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Project Completion Is Stuck at 90% DoneThe following is an excerpt from a book written by Sanjiv Purba and
Joseph Zucchero, published by McGraw-Hill/Osborne, 2100 Powell Street,
10th Floor, Emeryville, California 94608 U.S.A. Sanjiv has over 20
years of experience managing large projects and many years engaged in
rescuing ailing projects.
"When
a project manager first hears that a project is 90 percent complete
there's a lot of excitement and euphoria. This level of completion is
presumably achieved through gradual increases, week over week, and
reported on regular status reports or at status meetings. There are
several potential problems with a completion number. It is usually
generated by imprecise qualifications or a gut feel on the part of a
project manager or a project coordinator. The complexity of the
remaining 10 percent is also unclear and the small number may be
misleading."
"Indeed, projects have a tendency to remain in this
state. Dig deeper when a percentage complete value does not change
between successive status periods. Another warning sign is a sudden
deceleration in percent complete. For example, say the project complete
value is moving at a clip of 20 to 30 percent a week and then all of a
sudden you're seeing only a 1 or 2 percent change. The project team may
be coming to grips with the true requirements of the initiative and may
have been too optimistic in earlier status meetings."
"A final
consideration is when a percent complete goes down. This could also be
caused by an introduction of new requirements, but it could be a result
of bad reporting in earlier status segments. Usually a number that is
brought down may not be low enough, due to additional wishful thinking
from a project team. The problem may be much deeper than reports
suggest."
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