The important feature of these ‘big’ of ‘iconic’ projects is that many of the key elements of good project management are downgraded, distorted or ignored. These problems include:
Goals both at the beginning, during and after the project remain unclear and are dominated by post-project justification;
Overt and covert political goals and political interference in setting the project goals;
Limited initial or independent evaluation of the project’s viability so that expectations are exaggerated, over optimistic, or unspecified;
Often supply rather than demand driven – the we can build it rather than we need it, often expressed in the ‘build it and they will come syndrome,’;
Poor risk analysis;
Suffer from the ‘sunk costs’ mentality whereby even if project value is correctly challenged, the project is continued because of previous investments (financial, personal and political);
Changing specifications during the project implementation phase;
Budgets are poorly developed and expansive;
Timeframes are compressed, uncertain, or established to meet election cycles, with little accompanying consultation with relevant stakeholders;
Poor project governance with little separation between project management and project client resulting in excessive interference in both design, budgets, and management;
Long lead times so that their full impacts (and costs) are not appreciated till project is nearly or fully completed and frequent changing goals;