Muhanad Omar, Office SharePoint Server MVP

The guys from Cleverworkarounds.com have put together a neat series of posts on why SharePoint projects fail. I highly recommend you spend some time reading the 5-part series. And to top things off, head over to Joel Oleson's blog and read his insights and top reasons on why a SharePoint project will fail.

• Why Do SharePoint Projects Fail? Part 1
• Why Do SharePoint Projects Fail? Part 2
• Why Do SharePoint Projects Fail? Part 3
• Why Do SharePoint Projects Fail? Part 4
• Why Do SharePoint Projects Fail? Part 5

I was really impressed by Joel's post. He really hit the nail on this one. He mentioned three points in particular, which are probably 98% of the time, the main reasons SharePoint projects fail in our region (Mid East). The three points were:

1. Thinking that your Developers are your Administrators, and vice versa
2. You bought SharePoint because it does everything
3. SharePoint projects are doomed from the start because there is no budget

I want to elaborate a bit on each of these points, without repeating what Joel has already said, mainly to give my own insight on the situation in our region.

"Thinking that your Developers are your Administrators, and vice versa"

In other parts of the world, they call this person Jack. He does everything you ask him to, relatively well, but not perfect. You're ok with this though, because you figure, "Hey, I'm saving myself a few bucks by not hiring another person" even though the results will most likely be better if you did. In some cases, companies don't have the budget to hire an extra person, I understand that, but when it is in their budget and they still don't do it, they're just being stupid.

The case of "Jack" in our region is a bit different however. Over here, every company is looking for this person. They see him as a cost effective solution to meet most of their needs.

Hey Jack, can you build us a SharePoint portal? --Sure
Hey Jack, can you design the brochures for our new product? --Sure
Hey Jack, can you please fix my computer for me, I think I have a virus. --Sure
Hey Jack, can you develop an HR system for us... on Java? --Suuuure

You get the point. Funny thing is, particularly in Jordan, you'll probably have a hard time finding a job if you can't do all this stuff. Only recently have the salaries gone up, so now companies are actually able to invest in a person specialized in a certain field. A year ago, if you tried applying to company strictly as a SharePoint Admin, you'd find yourself unemployed. Sad, but true.

Don't get me wrong though, having a Jack around isn't a bad thing, but when you start using this person to implement your SharePoint solutions, things will get messy. For simple OOTB solutions with a bit of customization, this person will do just fine, but when the client starts requesting complex connected workflows or an environment which has to meet the needs of thousands of users and massive volumes of documents, things will go wrong! When the time comes to deliver the project, you have an unstable environment which probably wont last more than a few months.

Point is, invest in your resources, make sure everyone is playing their role on the team. Yes, you'll have to put in a few extra bucks to accomplish this, but believe me, the payoff is definitely worth it.

"You bought SharePoint because it does everything"

Yes, it's one hell of a platform, and with all the features that come bundled along with it, it's honestly the best I've ever seen.

So here's where the problem comes in. You send out your Sales Rep to sell SharePoint to a customer. He/she gives a great presentation that describes all the nice and fancy things SharePoint can do. But then he says that one thing that all us technical guys warn sales people to never say... "It will solve all you problems, I promise :)"

You'll be amazed at the things SharePoint can do-- save lives, rescue an organization from falling apart, even bring peace to the Middle East, but you should always remember that everything comes with its limitations. You can't really expect SharePoint to do everything you want it to do perfectly in an organization of 5,000 employees on a single server deployment.

My friends and I always joke around on how some clients in Jordan think SharePoint can do everything, like literally make you Shawerma and bring it to your office, or wash your car every morning before work. Ok, its not that bad, but you get the point :)

Anyway, Joel elaborated on this topic in more detail, so I suggest reading over his post for more on this.

"SharePoint projects are doomed from the start because there is no budget"

This one is by far my favorite! I really have no idea what goes through the minds of some partners when they accept a project that requires so much work, yet has absolutely no budget. I like this point the most because it's almost like a mix of the two previous points put together. It's basically the last part of the equation for a failed project. Whether there isn't enough money coming out of the project to allocate enough resources to work on it, or if the client doesn't have the budget to buy more than one server to meet all their business needs.

These are very critical factors that can lead to a disastrous project. You should keep in mind however that there are always viable solutions or steps you can take to avoid a failed project. If you're ever faced with one of these challenges, try tackling it in a different approach. For instance:

• Try scaling down the project, split it into phases.
• Make it clear what can and cannot be accomplished with the given time period/resources.
• Try assessing your project in terms of Risk versus Return.
• Don't always go for the impossible. And I quote Joel Oleson on this, "KISS.. Keep It Simple Stupid"

In the end, you're trying to satisfy your customer, and by at least giving them something that works great and then planning for future growth, you secure yourself a successful project.