I was once part of a team which was well over a year into a CRM implementation. A huge amount or resource had been committed, and it seemed that the project had reached a critical mass – what could possibly go wrong?

The vendor folded and although the product was still in existence, continued support and development were no longer guaranteed. The only option to defer future risk was to cancel the implementation and revisit the initial shortlisted vendors. This time round the software selection, configuration, testing and implementation was so much simpler. Most of the hard work was already done. The initial development mistakes had been made, lessons learned and project strategy updated accordingly.

Most, if not all, project methodologies promote analysis of past issues as a fundamental part of the project lifecycle.  My experiences this weekend reminded me that there are valuable lessons to be learned in failure as well as success.

Issues log anyone?

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