Preface

If you picked up this book, you are probably a project manager, program manager, or some other project professional. I can tell you, without knowing you personally, that some of your projects have failed. In fact, one might be in the process of failing right now. What you may not know is that not all failures are created equal. Some failures are actually good for your career, whereas some successes may not be. Why is this?

Drama.

Your team, clients, sponsors, and managers want you to be successful. They want every project to create a lot of value and be fondly remembered after it's finished. But this isn't always the case, and it's not always a bad thing. What they don't want is for your project to be full of anxiety and stress. And there is no better way to create stress than by failing in a way that other projects have failed. These include things like lack of preparation, lack of communication, or lack of understanding or alignment on what the project is supposed to deliver. The cause and result of any of these failures is the same: