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How Can You Avoid the Never Ending Project?

Many of us have been associated with “Never ending projects”. They typically involve constantly changing requirements and significant re-work which is a classic source of waste. Additionally, the changes are not prioritized based on business value so it may take a long time before the business sees any functional capability that delivers value. The philosophy behind Agile and iterative development is supposed to provide a framework for managing these changing requirements. Unfortunately, many project teams mis-interpret these frameworks which leads to never-ending projects, significant re-work and waste, and marginal business value.

What can be done to avoid these issues?

Define a functional framework and iterative strategy that allows the evolution of requirements and minimizes re-work

Implement high-value low-effort capabilities first in order to expedite the delivery of value to the business

Quantify and measure the expected value to ensure the desired outcomes are being delivered

Know when to stop. When the remaining ideas are high-effort and low-value, perhaps it is time for the project to end.

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