14.13 Search the Internet for links to the Boston Tunnel, “The Big Dig”; the Channel Tunnel, “The Chunnel”; and London’s Millennium Dome. Why do you think these projects were supported to their conclusion in spite of their poor cost performance? What would it take to kill a high-visibility project such as this?
14.14 Go to https://hbr.org/2003/02/why-bad-projects-are-sohard-to-kill and read the perspective on the difficulty in killing bad projects. What are some of the critical stories or pieces of advice offered by the blog writer and those commenting on his suggestions? How do corporate politics play a role in the continuation of poorly conceived projects? Which of these arguments makes the most sense to you? Why?
14.15 Go to http://cs.unc.edu/~welch/class/comp145/ media/docs/Boehm_Term_NE_Fail.pdf and read the article “Project Termination Doesn’t Equal Project Failure” by Barry Boehm. Summarize his main arguments. What does he cite as the top 10 reasons for project failure?
14.16 Go to www.pmhut.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/ project-closeout-document.pdf. Critique the content of this closeout form. What information would you suggest adding to the form to make it a more comprehensive closeout document?
14.17 Go to a search engine (Google, Yahoo!, Ask, etc.) and enter the term “project failure” or “project disaster.” Select one example and develop an analysis of the project. Was the project terminated or not? If not, why, in your opinion, was it allowed to continue?
PMP CERTIFICATION SAMPLE QUESTIONS
14.18 When does a project close?
a. When a project is canceled
b. When a project runs out of money
c. When a project is successfully completed
d. All the above are correct answers
14.19 You have just completed your project and have to confront the final activities your company requires when putting a project to bed. Which of the following activities is not expected to be part of the project closeout?
a. Lessons learned
b. Project archives
c. Release of resources
d. Supplier verification
14.20 Your project is nearing completion. At your request, members of your project team are grouping together critical project documentation, including contracts and financial records, change orders, scope and configuration management materials, and supplier delivery records. This process involves the creation of which of the following?
a. Archives
b. Lessons learned
c. Contract and legal files
d. Scope document
14.21 The execution phase of the IT project has just finished. The goals of this project were to update order-entry systems for your company’s shipping department. Which of the following is the next step in the process of completing the project? a. Gaining acceptance or the project by your shipping
department
b. Finishing the work
c. Closing the contract
d. Releasing the resources
14.22 The team has just completed work on the project. By all accounts, this was a difficult project from the beginning and the results bear this out. You were over budget by 20% and
significantly behind your schedule. Morale became progressively worse in the face of numerous challenges. At the close of the project, you decide to hold an informal meeting with the team to discuss the problems and identify their sources, all with the goal of trying to prevent something like this from happening again. This process is known as what?
a. Closing the project
b. Procurement audit
c. Lessons learned
d. Early termination
14.23 During project closeout, you are required to attend to activities related to all the following except:
a. Conducting post-project review
b. Obtain acceptance by the customer or sponsor to formally close the project
c. Document lessons learned
d. All are required activities for closeout
14.24 During project closeout, you are required to attend to all these additional activities except:
a. Apply appropriate updates to all organizational processes
b. Archive relevant project documentation
c. Retain project resources into the foreseeable future as a precaution
d. Close out procurement activities
14.25 The Closing Process Group in PMBoK refers to:
a. Processes performed to finalize all activities to formally close the project or phase
b. Processes performed to complete the work defined in the project management plan
c. Processes required to track, review, and regulate the progress and performance of the project
d. Processes performed to define a new project or new phase of an existing project
14.26 Which of the following is a critical document to prepare during the closeout phase?
a. Change requests
b. Lessons learned
c. Control charts
d. Integrated communications plan
14.27 You have completed a transportation hub project for a difficult customer who has been dissatisfied with the manner in which your organization managed his project. The project has been delayed for several reasons— mostly due to the client’s repeated change requests and
unexpected adverse weather conditions—that have led to a final close-out that was six months delayed past the original plan. Because of these delays, the customer’s organization was unable to market a series of scenic summer bus tours through the wine region of Napa Valley in time for the summer season. He plans to make a claim based on what he considers a commercial obligation on your part to compensate him for this lost business opportunity. What type of claim is he likely to make?
a. A default claim
b. An ex-gratia claim
c. A liquidated damages claim
d. A punitive claim
Answers
14.18. d—All are reasons why a project will close.
14.19. d—Supplier verification is a process that must occur early in the project to ensure that deliveries will arrive when needed and are of sufficient quality.
14.20. a—The collection of relevant project documentation is known as archiving.
14.21. b—The start of the final phase of a project usually involves completing all final tasks.
14.22. c—A lessons-learned meeting is intended to critically evaluate what went well and what went poorly on a project to promote good practices and prevent poor ones on future projects.
14.23. d—All the activities indicated are required for project closeout.
14.24. c—You will be expected to release project resources at the time of closeout.
14.25. a—The Close Group Process includes the processes to finalize all activities to formally close the project or phase.
14.26. b—The lessons learned documentation is critical for project closeout.
14.27. b—The customer is threatening to make an ex-gratia claim due to his argument that even without a contract for it, you had an obligation to compensate him for commercial losses.
Notes
1. Hall, G., (2015). “Amazon lays off engineers at Silicon
Valley-based Lab126 due to Fire phone failure,” Silicon Valley Business Journal, Aug 27, retrieved at: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2015/08/27/amazon-lays-off-engineers-at-silicon-valley-based.html; Carr, A., (2015). “The real story behind Jeff Bezos’s Fire Phone debacle and what it means for Amazon’s future,” Fast Company, Jan 6, retrieved at:https://www.fastcompany.com/3039887/under-fire; Blumenthal, E., (2014).
“Amazon cutes Fire Phone price to $199 without contract,” USA Today, Nov 26, retrieved at: https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/personal/2014/11/26/amazon-fire-phone-price/19523489/
2. Spirer, H. F., and Hamburger, D. (1983). “Phasing out the project,” in Cleland, D. I., and King, W. R. (Eds.), Project Management Handbook. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, pp. 231–50.
3. Meredith, J. R., and Mantel, Jr., S. J. (2003). Project Management, 5th ed. New York: Wiley.
4. Meredith, J. R., and Mantel, Jr., S. J. (2011). Project Management, 8th ed. New York: Wiley.
5. Cooke-Davies, T. (2001). “Project closeout management: More than simply saying good-bye and moving on,” in Knutson, J. (Ed.), Project Management for Business Professionals. New York: Wiley, pp. 200–14.
6. Cooke-Davies, T. (2001), ibid.
7. Turner, J. R. (1993). Handbook of Project-Based Work. London: McGraw-Hill.
8. Ive, G. (2004). “Private finance initiatives and the management of projects,” in Morris, P. W. G., and Pinto, J. K. (Eds.), The Wiley Guide to Managing Projects. New York: Wiley.
9. Pinto, J. K., and Slevin, D. P. (1987). “Critical factors in successful project implementation,” IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, EM-34: 22–27.
10. Cooke–Davies, T. (2001), ibid.
11. Frame, J. D. (2004). “Lessons learned: Project evaluation,” in Morris, P. W. G., and Pinto, J. K. (Eds.), The Wiley Guide to Managing Projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, pp. 1197–1213.
12. Frame, J. D. (2004), ibid., p. 1202.
13. Pinto, M. B., Pinto, J. K., and Prescott, J. E. (1993). “Antecedents and consequences of project team cross-functional cooperation,” Management Science, 39: 1281–97.
14. Cooke-Davies, T. (2001), as cited in note 5; Dinsmore, P. C. (1998). “You get what you pay for,” PMNetwork, 12(2): 21–22.
15. Meredith, J. R. (1988). “Project monitoring and early termination,” Project Management Journal, 19(5): 31–38.
16. Dean, B. V. (1968). Evaluating, Selecting and Controlling R&D Projects. New York: American Management Association.
17. Balachandra, R. (1989). Early Warning Signals for R&D Projects. Boston: Lexington Books; Balachandra, R., and Raelin, J. A. (1980). “How to decide when to abandon a project,” Research Management, 23(4): 24–29; Balachandra, R., and Raelin, J. A. (1984). “When to kill that R&D project,” Research Management, 27: 30–33; Balachandra, R., and Raelin, J. A. (1985). “R&D project termination in high-tech industries,” IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, EM-32: 16–23.
18. Green, S. G., Welsh, M. A., and Dehler, G. E. (1993). “Red flags at dawn or predicting project termination at startup,” Research Technology Management, 36(3): 10–12.
19. Meredith, J. R. (1988), as cited in note 15; Cleland, D. I., and Ireland, L. R. (2002). Project Management: Strategic Design and Implementation, 4th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill; Staw, B. M.,
and Ross, J. (1987, March–April). “Knowing when to pull the plug,” Harvard Business Review, 65: 68–74; Shafer, S. M., and Mantel, Jr., S. J. (1989). “A decision support system for the project termination decision,” Project Management Journal, 20(2): 23–28; Tadasina, S. K. (1986). “Support system for the termination decision in R&D management,” Project Management Journal, 17(5): 97–104; Cooper, R. G., and Kleinschmidt, E. J. (1990). “New product success: A comparison of ‘kills’ versus successes and failures,” Research and Development Management, 20(1): 47–63; Royer, I. (2003). “Why bad projects are so hard to kill,” Harvard Business Review, 81(2): 48–56; Spiller, P. T., and Teubal, M. (1977). “Analysis of R&D failure,” Research Policy, 6: 254–75; Charvat, J. P.
(2002). “How to identify a failing project,” articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_11 1061879.html; Mersino, A. (2001). “Three warning signs that your project is doomed,”
articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_111046522. html?tag=rbxccnbtr1; Mersino, A. (2001). “Four more warning signs that your project is doomed,” articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100 10878_11-1046005.html?tag=rbxccnbtr1
20. Frame, J. D. (1998). “Closing out the project,” in Pinto, J. K. (Ed.), The Project Management Institute Project Management Handbook. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, pp. 237–46; Kumar, V., Sersaud, A. N. S., and Kumar, U. (1996). “To terminate or not an ongoing R&D project: A managerial
dilemma,” IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 43(3): 273–84; Pritchard, C. L. (1998). “Project termination: The good, the bad, the ugly,” in Cleland, D. I. (Ed.), Field
Guide to Project Management. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, pp. 377–93.
21. Love, M., (2017). “Several Manitoba health projects cancelled, others added to the mix,” Journal of Commerce, Mar
14, retrieved at: http://journalofcommerce.com/Infrastructure/News/2017/3/Several-Manitoba-health-projects-cancelled-others-added-to-the-mix-1022448W/
22. Morris, D., (2014). “Why Google cancelled Project Ara,” Fortune, Sept 3, retrieved at: http://fortune.com/2016/09/03/why-google-canceled-project-ara/
23. Menon, P. (2013, July 30). “Dubai sets up panel to pay investors in scrapped projects,” Reuters. www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/30/dubai-property-cashbackidUSL6N0G02IE20130730; Menon, P. (2012, November 27). “Government tries to revive its construction boom but can it find the cash?” Reuters. www.dailyfinance.com/2012/11/27/dubai-construction-boom-moneyislamic-bonds/; Deulgaonkar, P., (2016), “Investors get refunds from cancelled projects in Dubai,” Emirates 24/7,
April 6, retrieved at: http://www.emirates247.com/news/emirates/investors-get-refund-from-cancelledprojects-in-dubai-2016-04-06-1.626291
24. Spirer, H. F., and Hamburger, D. (1983), as cited in note 2.
25. Krigsman, M. (2012, April 10). “Worldwide cost of IT failure (revisited): $3 trillion,” ZDNet. www.zdnet.com/blog/projectfailures/worldwide-cost-of-it-failure-revisited3-trillion/15424; Mayhew, P. (2010). “Annual cost of project failure,” Papercut PM. http://edge.papercutpm.com/annual-cost-of-project-failure/; Standish Group. (2013). Chaos Report 2013. Cambridge, MA. www.versionone.
com/assets/img/files/CHAOSManifesto2013.pdf
26. Head, B. and Walker, D., (2016). “The enormous cost of IT project failure,” Intheblack, Nov 1, retrieved as:https://www.intheblack.com/articles/2016/11/01/
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27. Charette, R.N., (2013). “Déjà vu all over again: California’s DMV IT project cancelled,” IEEE Spectrum, Feb 21, retrieved at: http://spectrum.ieee.org/riskfactor/computing/it/dj-vu-all-over-again-californias-dmv-it-project-cancelled; Charette, R.N., (2013), “California’s payroll
project debacle: Another $50 million up in smoke,” IEEE Spectrum, Feb 14, retrieved at: http://spectrum.ieee.org/riskfactor/computing/it/californias-payroll-project-debacle-another-50-million-up-in-smoke
28. Marsh, P. (2000). “Managing variation, claims, and disputes,” in Turner, J. R., and Simister, S. J. (Eds.), Gower Handbook of Project Management, 3rd ed. Aldershot, UK: Gower.
29. Bennett, S. C. (2006). “Non-binding arbitration: An introduction,” Dispute Resolution Journal, 61(2), 22–27.
30. Frame, J. D. (1998), as cited in note 20.
31. Spirer, H. F., and Hamburger, D. (1983), as cited in note 2.
32. Malanga, S. (2010, October 16–17). “Christie is right about the Hudson River big dig,” Wall Street Journal, p. A15; Schuerman, M. (2010). “New Jersey Governor Chris Christie kills Hudson River train tunnel for second time,” www.wnyc.org/articles/wnyc-news/2010/oct/26/new-jerseygovernor-chris-christie-kills-hudson-river-train-tunnelsecond-time/; “N.J. Gov. Christie kills Hudson River
tunnel project, citing taxpayers woes.” (2010, October 7) www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/10/gov_christie_kills_hudson_rive.html;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Access_to_the_Region%27s_Core; www.arctunnel.com/pdf/news/Tunnel%20Info%20Kit_Dec2009_single%20 page%20layout.pdf; http://blog.nj.com/njv_editorial_page/2009/06/arc_transhudson_rail_tunnel_co.html;
Smart, M. (2009). “Digging deep,” PMNetwork, 23(10): 40–45.
33. “LCS: the USA’s Littoral Combat Ships,” (2017). Defense Industry Daily, March 13, retrieved at: http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/the-usas-new-littoral-combat-ships-updated-01343/; Smith, R., (2016), “Littoral Combat Ships failures multiply – but won’t sink Lockheed Martin’s stock,” The Motley Fool, Sep 27, retrieved at: https://www.fool.com/investing/2016/09/27/littoral-combat-ship-failures-multiply-but-wont-si.aspx; Larter, D.B., (2016). “Navy orders big changes
for littoral combat ships after engineering problems,” Navy Times, Sept 5, retrieved at: www.navytimes.com/articles/navy-orders-big-lcs-changes-after-engineeringproblems; Shalal, A. (2014, April 9). “McCain blasts Navy’s LCS ship plan; urges cut to 24 vessels,” Reuters. www
.reuters.com/article/2014/04/10/us-navy-ships-mccainidUSBREA3900T20140410; Patch, J. (2011). “The wrong ship at the wrong time,” Proceedings Magazine, 137: 1,295.https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2011-01/wrong-ship-wrong-time
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