Projects succeed-projects fail. This is because there is no definite formula for success in any project. When attempting to do something, be it a small task, an assignment or innovation, a set procedure has to be followed. In a project, the number of factors involved are far too many, and it is always a complex situation. If due care is not given to the project, it fails.

The definition of failure varies with perspective. However, three factors stand out: cost overrun, time overrun and the original intentions of the project being lost en route. With finality, we can say that these factors fit in snugly in IT projects. It is particularly apt in a project, if the client who originally mooted the proposal says, "This is not what I wanted". This is the tune sung by many IT clients and almost always, they are justified.

Project failure is a multi-headed dragon which may take any shape it wants. It can be a spaceship for Mars crashing into the ocean, or the Titanic, ramming onto an iceberg; an airport ending up as big as a city, or a road project hitting a huge roadblock. It can be a cathedral, half-finished, or a hydro-electric project ending up with lakhs of displaced families.

With big projects, the chances of failure are higher. There are projects with outlays of even billions of dollars. Thus, failure of space missions is understandable. Strangely, construction of a simple park also has failed sometimes.