“Fail early and fail cheap,” is the motto at Suncorp, a financial services firm in Brisbane, Australia. If a project is floundering, the project’s executive sponsor is expected to identify the problem and make a decision about what to do before major resources are wasted.
Adrian McKnight, executive general manager of group partnering, faced this situation in 2008 with a large, year-long project to update the company’s project portfolio management systems. The initiative would change the way business units managed project resource allocation, planning and prioritisation, requiring more cross-functional teamwork and decision-making.
The initial project idea was approved, and the project moved to the planning stage. That involved building a team and defining a more detailed view of the scope, timeline, budget and goals of the project.
