The common barriers to business project success and guidance on how to avoid them.

This document has been written to identify the top 10 barriers to a successful Business Project initiative based on my personal experience and opinion. I am certain that professionals and professional groups around the world who are more experienced than me may have other ideas or points to add and I respect them if that is the case, however with my 30 years as a business analysis practitioner, mentor, coach, assessor and trainer, these are the top 10 barriers I have witnessed having negative impact on the success of projects.

At this point I wish to state the definition of a ‘project’ as being “A temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result” (PMBOK® Guide). Projects are funded to accomplish a specific strategic objective and to implement a solution that will meet business needs and may include software/technology development; Business Process Improvement or a Commercial-Off-The-Shelf solution.

A solution is something that ‘meets a business need by solving problems or allows an organization to take advantage of an opportunity’ (IIBA®- BABOK). The word ‘solution’ is used as it has a broader meaning and includes implementation of new or changes to an existing system; to procedures and to organization structures and competencies. Every project an organization initiates must have a positive return or benefit to the organization to justify the investment of the project.

Whilst the headings describe barriers, the supporting text focuses more on how to prevent the barriers from occurring.

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