A failing project is not automatically worth rescuing. First find out why it is off track, then test whether its purpose and expected return still justify the cost. If they do, reset the plan with the people who will deliver it; if they do not, stop and redirect resources. Either decision can turn a failure into useful organizational learning.
Laura Barnard’s CIO guidance offers ten steps for dealing with a stalled, over-budget, or strategically outdated project. The sequence is useful because it treats recovery as a decision—not a race to restore the original schedule. It is practitioner advice, not a statistically validated recovery method, and it offers no universal score or threshold for deciding whether to continue. Barnard’s ten-step framework is best applied with the project’s actual costs, constraints, expected benefits, and current organizational priorities in view.
1. Find out how the project got here
Start with a factual account of what happened: decisions made, delays, omissions, changes, and external events. Ask why repeatedly until the team has a plausible cause it can act on. The visible symptom—a missed milestone or budget overrun—may reflect deeper problems such as unclear goals, weak planning, scope changes, sponsorship gaps, misalignment, or missing stakeholder and resource input. These are possible causes, not a ranked list of the most common failures.
Keep the discussion focused on conditions and choices that can be changed. Blame can make people defensive and obscure the decisions needed to improve the project.
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2. Revisit the project’s purpose
Restate why the work began and what positive impact it was expected to create. Ask the team and sponsor to describe what success means in concrete terms. If they cannot agree on the intended outcome, the project has no stable basis for a recovery plan.
3. Reassess the expected return
Compare the project’s remaining investment with the value it can still realistically deliver. Consider the original business case, the work left to do, and whether expected benefits remain achievable. A project’s previous spending is not, by itself, a reason to keep funding it; the decision should concern the value of investing from this point forward.
There is no universal return threshold in Barnard’s framework. The sponsor and organization must judge whether the likely outcome justifies continued use of money, staff time, and other resources.
4. Check whether the original goals still matter
Organizational priorities can change while a project is underway. Confirm that its goals still support current needs, and evaluate any proposed change against expected return and strategic fit. A project can be delivered successfully against its original plan and still fail to serve the organization if that plan no longer addresses an important need.
5. Ask people beyond the core team
Gather input from everyone with relevant knowledge or a stake in the outcome—not just the primary decision-makers. Include contributors who understand delivery constraints and people who can offer a broader, less emotionally involved view. Their perspectives may reveal overlooked dependencies, unrealistic assumptions, or benefits and risks the core team has missed.
6. Reset scope, time, and cost realistically
Once the team understands the causes and purpose, rebuild the delivery expectations with the stakeholders who will do the work. Define a feasible scope and a credible schedule and cost estimate. A plan made without key contributors can repeat the original problem: it may commit people to assumptions they had no chance to validate.
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- book
- A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) – Seventh Edition and The Standard for Project Management (ENGLISH)
Make the trade-offs visible. If the desired scope cannot fit the available time and resources, decide what changes rather than treating the original target as fixed.
7. Make commitments explicit
Agree on who owns each deliverable, what they will provide, and when it is due. An accountability model should make responsibilities and dependencies clear enough that the team can see whether commitments are being met and where help or a decision is needed.
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8. Follow through when commitments are missed
Decide in advance how the organization will respond when a commitment is missed. Consequences should be meaningful and appropriate to the situation—for example, escalating a blocked decision, revising ownership, or adjusting the plan. Accountability is not simply punishment; it means that missed commitments prompt a timely response rather than being ignored.
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- Harvard Business Review Project Management Handbook: How to Launch, Lead, and Sponsor Successful Projects
- Harvard Business Review Press
- BLANK BOOK
9. Choose whether to rescue, reframe, or stop
Use the diagnosis, updated business case, and realistic delivery plan to make a deliberate choice. A rescue keeps the core purpose and changes the execution plan. A reframe changes goals or scope to fit current priorities and achievable value. Stopping ends the work and frees resources for other uses. Compare the options using these practical questions:
- Strategic fit: Do the project’s goals still match organizational priorities?
- Expected return: Can the remaining work produce enough value to justify further investment?
- Feasibility: Can the delivery team agree on realistic scope, time, and cost?
- Cause and remedy: Are the root causes understood and within the organization’s ability to address?
- Opportunity cost: Could the people and funding create greater impact on other work?
These questions support judgment; they are not a scoring formula. If the project no longer has a sound return or strategic fit, ending it can be the responsible decision. Barnard puts it simply: “Sometimes, the best decision is to stop a failing project.”
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.10. Repair the foundation and look across the portfolio
For work that continues, rebuild the basics: a credible business case, clear requirements, and a realistic schedule. Then inspect other projects for similar weaknesses. A recurring planning or governance problem is not confined to the project where it first became visible.
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Broader organizational improvement takes more than a single recovery. A 2004 PMI-hosted conference paper describes assessing project practices, developing a tailored methodology, piloting it, rolling it out with training and coaching, and monitoring benefits after delivery. It is historical context, not a current standard or evidence that a particular intervention guarantees recovery. Read the PMI-hosted paper.
What makes the recovery decision useful
The point is not to label a project a success at any cost. It is to make the next investment decision with better information than the last one. If the work continues, the team should know its purpose, the causes it is addressing, what it will deliver, and who is responsible. If it stops, the organization can still use what it learned to improve future decisions and avoid repeating preventable weaknesses.
Barnard’s related ProjectManagement.com guidance on project rescue reinforces the sequence of honest assessment, clarifying purpose, reviewing return and goals, seeking wider input, resetting constraints, and accountability. It is consistent advice from the same author rather than independent empirical validation.
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