Why my projects keep failing

Another failed project, recorded again. The same feeling of bitter-sweet, bitter because I wasn’t able to go through my goals and I probably just wasted months of my life on something I truly believed would create an impact. Sweet because I know where the mistake was and so now I can come back another time stronger and better than ever before. You will be surprised at how many failed projects it takes for most people to get the right thing going it, we often underestimate what it takes to get things working very well simply because we are so focused on what works already, but that road is definitely not an easy one to navigate.

Clear the Myth

I’ll start here by clearing a myth most people have which is to think that the failure of a project is the result of a mistake or something not done right, you can do everything right and still fail. This is why we set standards, we establish principles, because we are all still coming to an understanding of what works and what doesn’t, so unless your project is the identical clone of another, there is a high probably you’ll be navigating through unchartered territories and so there is no telling what could go wrong.

In this article I’ll share with you the causes of failure for so many of my projects in hopes they help you as well avoid where I stumbled and come back better. I write this with Africa in my mind because there are so many failed projects which keep piling up each day, from failed roads, to broken down schools, famine, misery and so many other projects, the persistent question in my mind is why this continues to happen despite all the accumulated knowledge we’ve gathered through the years.

I can’t obviously analyze such large scale projects in such a simple article alone, so we are going to look at the problem from a small scale. I asked myself the question, “why do my projects keep failing?”.

For better understanding, let's consider a project from the perspective of bringing up a child. In a lot of ways, raising a child is a whole project, so how can we ensure that it is successful and we avoid failure?

Preparation

It all starts with preparation, how well are you prepared to embark on this project to begin with? When the foundations aren’t solid, then the rest is also going to be shaky. To be honest, a lot of the projects I engaged in at a personal level were just thrilling ideas I sought out to pursue, maybe a cool app I thought of building, or a software I believed would help many people. Just from the onset the reasons for embarking on the project were already flawed or at least not the right ones to have.

For others the only reason they embark on a project is to earn some income either out of desperation or greed. Now imagine wanting a child for the same reason, because you have a great idea about what you could do with the child or maybe because you want more income. You’ll agree with me that those aren’t the best of reasons for wanting a child and they are not enough preparation for one. So from the onset my projects were already flawed because the reasons and preparation for them weren’t a solid foundation to take it through to the end. In the same way when you look at projects being done in Africa, most are done out of necessity where resources have to be gathered in a hurry and things put in place to solve a pressing problem with little consideration about longevity or purpose.

Execution

When we get to the execution, this is a whole different ball game of mistakes, flaws and problems. How many times have I argued with people over different aspects of the project, I can barely remember. There are a bunch of things which need to be done in terms of planning, organization, budgeting, strategizing and much more, just listing them already exhausted me, so you can imagine having to do all that work on a project. If you aren’t resolved enough then you are sure to give up early. Here is the gravestone for a lot of projects, despite the starting ideas being great and the overall mission being pretty clear, getting the execution out the door couldn’t be worse.

Here are the factors on which your project depends at this stage, all of which are make or break determinants for your project;

• Budget
• Strategy
• Organization
• Marketing
• Business Plan
• Team

External factors such as

• Market Misalignment
• Changing Market Conditions
• Bad Timing
• Cash Flow Problems
• Flawed Business Plans
• Hiring Challenges
• Partnership Pitfalls
• Lack of Focus
• Pride and Unwillingness to Adapt
• Ineffective Marketing
• Lack of Passion and Commitment
• Insufficient Research

Each of these can give a destructive blow to your project undoubtedly, which is often what happens, when one is underestimated it often times proves to be the downfall of your project. So if you want to know why my projects failed the there you have it,

for some the budget wasn’t enough to take it through,

the strategy proved to be inadequate in the context,

the organization of the project was lackluster and clumsy,

marketing failed to meet standards,

the business plan wasn’t efficient enough and

finally the team let me down countless number of times.

I write these with tears in my eyes, you might not realize what this represents to me, but these are years of work, sacrifices, hopes and dreams which all went down the drain, often in silence, but I know am not alone, a lot of people out there face the same challenges and pitfalls. It's like giving birth to a child, and they unfortunately pass away. I write my experience because I see a lot of other people engaging onto the same destructive path with the same glee of hope in their eyes and even though their efforts are commendable, they painfully do things the wrong way.

Maintenance & Growth

Assuming you made it through the whole execution phase, there is still work which needs to be done in terms of maintaining the system and ensuring it survives through the years. It's one thing to get a system running, but it is a whole other thing to keep it working well.

Almost 90% of startups fail after 5 years and this is not me saying this.

If these numbers are to be trusted, then it's a horrible sight to see. Definitely, depending on the sector you are involved in the odds might be better or worse, but there is no denying that this is an alarming statistic. At this point it would be a luxury for me to even think about maintaining such a system because it is so far ahead and that's precisely what causes the downfall of a lot of projects, you barely have energy left after dealing with execution to worry about maintenance.

There are definitely many projects which get to this phase, maintenance often just becomes a game of survival more than anything else. Growth is also underrated and often neglected, we forget that a project is like a child which is in constant growth, when you don’t account for the increase in height, deep stomach to feed and much more then you are sure to hit a wall at some point. When we work on projects we tend to think just about making it work and that's it, but growth is something we should consider from the onset.

Ending on a positive note

The ultimate question we ask ourselves is “why do we do this in the first place?”, why even try things, why not just try to get a basic job and earn however little you need to survive and make the most out of the life you already have, why do people keep trying new things only to fail and keep hitting their heads against that wall.

Well, the answer is quite simple,

Humans have an innate desire to innovate and push the boundaries of what is possible because it is ingrained in our nature to seek progress, growth, and advancement. At the core of this drive lies our insatiable curiosity and thirst for knowledge, coupled with our capacity for creativity and imagination. That's why even though we fail, even after countless mistakes, pain, sacrifice and suffering, we still rise again and keep pushing, we keep moving forward, challenging the very odds of our existence.

So yes, I failed 1000 projects, I’ll probably fail 1000 more projects, but I don’t think I can ever stop trying, it's just in my nature to keep pushing forward, I can’t help it.

This is also an encouragement to you to keep trying, remember that you only have to win once.

Thanks for reading ☺️

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