The project approach to suicide prevention activities - Living is for ...

Projects that fail
Projects that fail have common features, which include:
• Leaving out key people. To progress with a project, no matter
how straight forward it is, and inadvertently or deliberately omit
a key stakeholder or someone with key expertise is asking for
trouble and results in time delays.
• Not meeting specifications. The client’s needs will define
the specifications of the project. If they are not met it usually
means having to redo work and waste valuable resources.
• Taking your eye off the ball. It is easy to be distracted by other
work or by the work of someone else. A detailed individual work
plan that is carefully followed protects against this happening.
• Not tracking agreed changes in writing. Projects often fail because
conversations about changes to project components have
occurred between key project stakeholders without recording
them. Keeping a record of agreed changes is crucial to projects.
• Changing project scope. When the project methodology,
resourcing and team allocations are determined it is according
to the agreed scope of the project. If the scope changes,
it will have resultant effects on the project activities and would
usually mean renegotiating the project arrangements.
• Key personnel leaving. During the lifecycle of a project,
no matter how long it is expected to run, key people may
leave and this needs to be managed.
• If there is change in the personnel of the sponsor, confusion
can arise. This needs to be rapidly confronted to ensure no
changes to agreed project arrangements. If this happens late
in a project it could spell disaster.
More information
• Commonwealth Department of Families, Housing,
Community Services and Indigenous Affairs – Good Practices
and Pitfalls in Community based Capacity Building and Early
Intervention Projects toolkit available at www.facsia.gov.au
• Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing –
Building Healthy Communities A Guide for Community Projects:
www.health.gov.au
• Community Builders NSW – help for NSW communities across
the state share ideas on how to enhance and strengthen their
community: www.communitybuilders.nsw.gov.au
• Living Is For Everyone (LIFE) – A Framework for Prevention
of Suicide in Australia (2007). Commonwealth Department
of Health and Ageing: Canberra.
• Living Is For Everyone (LIFE) – Research and Evidence in
Suicide Prevention (2007). Commonwealth Department
of Health and Ageing: Canberra.
• Free Management Library – resources regarding the leadership
and management of yourself, other individuals, groups and
organizations: www.managementhelp.org
• Mental health & well being – information on the Australian
Government’s role and contributions to mental health reform
activities in Australia: www.mentalhealth.gov.au
• Mental Health Promotion Toolkit – A practical resources for
community initiatives (Canadian Mental Health Association):
www.cmha.ca
• Our Community – A knowledge bank for community groups:
www.ourcommunity.com.au
• Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing – Suicide and
mental illness in the media: a Mindframe resource for the mental
health sector: www.mindframe-media.info
The Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing has financially supported the production
of this document. While every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained is accurate
and up-to-date at the time of publication, the department does not accept responsibility for any errors,
omissions or inaccuracies. © Commonwealth of Australia 2007. This work is copyright. Apart from any
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