Negative Inertia

I think all of us have been in this situation. You're on a project that has a ridiculous schedule, massive scope, and grandeur expectations. Going into a project like this, everyone realizes the complete and utter futility in tackling the project and yet the troops march on.

I don't know if its a drive in many of us that loves a challenge, thrives on the impossible, and the ego in us that says I can make it happen.Then reality sets in. You realize you don't have the right number and/or the right quality of resources. You find that collaboration and communication is becoming a nightmare to manage. You start to raise flags to management to let them know that things are not going well. Often times, that results in a period of all hands on deck where everyone from every group in the company pitches in and tries to help.Of course the people that are pulled in are more than likely looking to come in and save the day. They want to take control and play the general,; meanwhile, you just need the right soldiers to help get the project back on track.

Why is it that this happens so often? Why is it that we take on more scope on a project than can realistically be delivered in a humane way. In the end, the project makes it to the live date, but there are huge quality issues, or massive corrections after the scheduled project is complete, and in the end, either the budget has been completely blown, or the return that the stakeholders had originally expected, does not materialize.I call this negative inertia. Instead of stopping a project like this early, and slowing things down to make sure that you look at the priorities, reset expectations, and ensure that you can achieve success, the project keeps driving forward at full speed. It has negative inertia...

I'd like to hear stories on projects that have stopped the train wreck from occurring, and that have stopped a project mid stream and made difficult decisions that felt very painful to everyone involved during that process, but due to the corrections being made, the project benefited from that correction.