For over 10 years, stakeholders tried to make the Denver International Airport Automated Baggage Handling project work before giving up. The cost of continuing was around $120M, on top of an already over-budget project that was too complex to fix. Project leaders should know when to give up and cancel a project. Here are 5 circumstances that signal the necessity of cancellation:
- Project objectives are no longer attainable, and no useful deliverables will result.
- The project is no longer aligned with organizational goals and strategy.
- The project is very off track and cannot be economically salvaged (do not consider sunk costs in the decision).
- The project will no longer provide any value to the organization when completed.
- Any contractual terms for cancellation are met.
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