Fail-Safe Management Five Rules to Avoid Project Failure [Paperback]

The decision to look at failures for answers is a bold one. Policy makers, planners and implementers have a tendency to look through prisms of success in framing working policies, programs and results when justifying them. Despite this, we still tend to address failures indirectly by looking at risk, critical success factors, unintended outcomes or consequences, and negative impacts to name a few. As the authors say, 'while success is desirable and we plan for it, failures are inevitable and we seldom plan to mitigate them.'The authors have clearly emphasized the need to look at failures in an integrated manner by building them into the planning and budget process while at the same time identifying monitoring points for early detection that will provide critical information for timely intervention. Failures are real, and we must plan to face them when they emerge. This book will offer the necessary insight to managers.??? Koshy Thomas, Head of the Outcome-based Budgeting Project Team, Ministry of Finance, MalaysiaThis book provides invaluable guidance on how to avoid the failure of interventions, whether for projects, programs, or policies. The authors note that although good design is essential, 'paying attention to details that only happen during implementation is essential in avoiding failure'. The five steps outlined are salutary, and point to the craft needed for good implementation-the range of issues which have continuously to be managed, the environment, stakeholders, resources, systems, and so on. As the authors point out, some elements are beyond the control of a project manager, but all too often it is the things that are controllable that are ignored at our peril. Good management is not sexy, but it usually makes thedifference between failure and success. This book deserves careful study by public and private sector managers and implementers.??? Dr. Ian Goldman, Head of Evaluation and Research, Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, The Prel£x