We’re all project managers now. Whether you’re leading a product launch, planning a national event, managing a new system rollout, or reimagining customer service, you’re working in the ‘project economy’, a world where more and more work is delivered through temporary, purpose-driven initiatives rather than ongoing operations. The challenge is that with each project comes pressure to deliver on time, on budget, and with measurable benefits.
Yet, despite the importance of projects to strategic progress, project failure remains a prevalent and costly problem. According to the Harvard Business Review Project Management Handbook, every year, about US$48 trillion is invested in projects globally, but only 35% are considered successful. That means 65% of all projects fail to meet their goals, which is a staggering number when you consider the lost opportunities, drained resources, delayed outcomes, and sometimes even reputational damage that accompanies project failure.
So why do projects fail, and more importantly, what can business leaders do to shift the odds in their favour? Here are five critical ways to set your projects — and your people — up for success.
1. Start with clear outcomes, not just activities
Many projects begin with activity-based planning like what needs to be done, by whom, and when, but activities are only the means to an end. Without a laser focus on outcomes (or the measurable benefits the project must deliver), teams can lose sight of the big picture, resulting in scope creep, wasted effort, and the classic ‘on time and on budget, but still a failure’ scenario.
Clear outcomes give teams a reason to prioritise, iterate, and adapt when things change. Leaders must insist on benefit-driven charters: what is the value this project is supposed to create, for whom, and how will we measure success? If those questions aren’t answered upfront, project execution becomes a guessing game.
Importantly, these outcomes should link directly to the organisation’s strategic objectives. Every initiative must earn its right to exist. In the age of resource constraints and heightened accountability, if a project doesn’t serve the business’s most urgent needs, it shouldn’t proceed.
2. Appoint real leaders, not just coordinators
One of the biggest misconceptions about project management is that it’s primarily administrative, like managing timelines, running meetings, and updating stakeholders. In reality, project success is leadership-intensive and it requires influence, resilience, vision, and decision-making under uncertainty.
Too often, project managers are chosen based on availability rather than capability, but delivering outcomes in a dynamic, multi-stakeholder environment calls for people who can inspire commitment, navigate ambiguity, and respond to change. They need emotional intelligence to manage team dynamics and the political savvy to secure executive backing when the going gets tough.
Investing in the right project leadership — whether internal or external — is one of the most important strategic decisions a business can make. The strongest project leaders don’t just follow process; they make calls, protect the scope, communicate honestly, and constantly re-align the team toward the original objectives.
3. Expect change and build in flexibility
It’s rare for a project to unfold exactly as planned. Technology shifts, stakeholder needs change, budgets get cut, and external risks emerge. Despite this reality, too many projects rigidly follow the initial plan, even when it’s no longer fit for purpose. This is where traditional project approaches break down.
Instead, modern project delivery must be responsive, requiring governance that supports structured change. Agile methodologies, staged delivery, and continuous feedback loops are all designed to help teams sense and respond to change while keeping the project on track.
Business leaders need to recognise that flexibility is not a threat to control, but rather a pathway to relevance. A rigid project that delivers the wrong thing, late, is far more dangerous than a flexible one that adapts and delivers incremental value, so it’s important to build maturity in navigating this tension and create room for course correction without sacrificing accountability.
4. Don’t underestimate stakeholder complexity
No project exists in a vacuum. There are always multiple stakeholders, with differing and sometimes even conflicting expectations. This includes end-users, customers, internal departments, regulators, sponsors, and external vendors, and failing to proactively engage and manage these relationships is one of the top causes of project failure.
Good stakeholder management begins with understanding interests, pre-empting resistance, and finding shared value. This requires ongoing listening, tailored messaging, and sometimes tough conversations, so project teams should be coached and supported in managing this dynamic, especially when the stakes are high or when organisational change is involved.
A project can meet its technical requirements but still be seen as a failure if it doesn’t land well with its intended users. Leaders must ask: have we taken the human side of this project seriously? Have we mapped our stakeholders, involved them early, and earned their trust?
5. Partner with experts to build project maturity
Even with strong internal leadership, many businesses don’t have the systems, frameworks, and institutional discipline to run projects at scale. This is where partnering with a seasoned project and programme management (PPM) consultancy like Paracon can solve your project-related issues.
Paracon offers deep expertise across people, process, and technology, the three elements that together underpin project success. We support businesses in assessing project environment maturity, designing and rolling out project offices, implementing fit-for-purpose PPM methods, and embedding robust governance practices from project selection through to execution and close-out.
We also help organisations turn project data into actionable insights, ensuring that decision-makers have the right information at the right time. Our change and transition management capabilities ensure that projects don’t just finish, they land well and deliver value.
In the project economy, success belongs to those who can deliver consistently, predictably, and with purpose. With an expert partner like Paracon, business leaders don’t have to go it alone. The future of your organisation may depend on the next project you deliver, so let’s work together to make sure it’s one that succeeds.
